Chrome users are up in arms again, this time over Google's plan to automatically disable some browser add-ons, according to scores of messages posted to Google's support forum.
"If I wanted my browser to hold my hand and treat me like I don't know how to use a computer I'd use Internet Explorer," said scottt732 in a message posted Wednesday to a long thread on Chrome's support discussion forum. "Now, I wake up to find that you took the pegs off of my bike and installed training wheels. Thanks for that."
scottt732 and others blasted Google for the latter's new policy, which automatically disables most extensions -- also called add-ons -- that were downloaded from locales other than the Chrome Web Store, Google's official e-mart. The only extensions that can be installed in Chrome are ones from the store.
Google has been talking up the auto-removal of unsanctioned extensions since November, when the company characterized the policy as a security necessity, claiming that "bad actors" were using loopholes to continue installing malicious add-ons without user approval or knowledge.
Google has already turned on the stricter rules in the Windows version of Chrome 33 Beta, one of three development channels it maintains. While not as popular as the Stable channel, Beta is used by millions who have opted for the previews.
There are some minor exemptions from the only-from-Chrome-Web-Store policy: Businesses and software developers can still offer add-ons from their own servers, but those extensions must also be published on the store.
Users, many of whom didn't realize they were running the Beta channel of Chrome -- or had forgot they'd switched in the past from the Stable build line -- were very unhappy when some extensions suddenly disappeared.
"You just disabled my Norton Identity Safe [extension]," bemoaned Annelies Van Gysegem Tuesday on the same long thread. "We have used and trusted Norton for years and I cannot believe you just disabled our security software."
Others reported that the Chrome extension for RoboForm, a popular Windows password manager, had been crippled. "I can not use my vendor-distributed version of RoboForm now because of the immediate implementation without warning of this policy," said dccsched. "To continue using Chrome, I am being forced to use a free Lite version of the product that is several versions old."
Many objected to the new policy on principle, saying that they weren't about to be told what extensions they could run alongside Chrome. "For the record, this sucks. I'm capable of making my own decisions, thanks," said myuniqueplacename last week.
"Absolutely ridiculous. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't need Googlenanny to tell me which extensions are or are not allowed for me to run," echoed Nyx Valentine.
