As more and more people are asking us for a DownThemAll! version for Google Chrome:

We won’t support Google Chrome (and Chromium for that matter) in the near future, if ever.

There are multiple reasons not to support Google Chrome (at the moment):

While support for some types of extensions was added to Chrome just recently, the extension system in Chrome simply doesn’t cut it. It is only very limited in what you can do. Right now there is no way to port dTa over without losing the majority of functionality .

. Even if there were the technical means to port dTa! to Google Chrome, we still wouldn’t have the time and resources to support it. Right now we’re in the middle of university studies or only recently completed our degrees and hence need to “settle” for a real-life work. Some of us are now family men. As you clearly noticed the number of dTa! releases was always low with only a major release once a year. Due to these time constraints we don’t think we can handle supporting yet another application.

We are not yet sure about the privacy in Chrome. Chrome itself is closed source (not to confuse with the Chromium basis, which is open source) and it can only be guessed what happens “behind the scenes”. Google Chrome is known to transmit data back to the google servers. This kept us away from using Google Chrome, although we watched the progress made so far.

Lastly, we are still Mozilla supporters.

While this surely won’t keep us away from a Chrome port, it surely does not provide us with a lot of motivation to code for Google Chrome.

Not only is Firefox the superior browser in our opinion, the Mozilla Foundation and Co. and the great people in the Mozilla community – developers, translators, designers, users and all the other folks – and the truly “open” mindset keep us in the Mozilla base. 😉

Thanks for your interest in a dTa! version for Google Chrome, but we have to pass at this time.

Nils

Update 2009/12/11:

Here is Giorgio Maones take on the Chrome extension system, with some explanation why there are no NoScript or decent ad-blockers for Google Chrome yet:

http://hackademix.net/2009/12/10/why-chrome-has-no-noscript/