The launch of Firefox Quantum has shifted all the focus from Chrome to Firefox. Therefore, a big news or announcement from Chrome was expected from quite some time. In a recent announcement by Google, all third-party software will be blocked from injecting code into the Chrome browser for Windows.
In a blog posted on Chromium blog Google has announced that in July 2018, with Chrome version 68 it will not allow third party software to run their code in Chrome.
Why has Google Taken this Step?
Google has a strong belief that maximum third-party software do more harm than good. As per Google, the code inserted by these third-party software increases the incidences of crashes on the browser and make it unstable.
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As per Chris Hamilton, Chrome Stability Team, “Roughly two-thirds of Windows Chrome users have other applications on their machines that interact with Chrome, such as accessibility or antivirus software. In the past, this software needed to inject code in Chrome in order to function properly; unfortunately, users with software that injects code into Windows Chrome are 15% more likely to experience crashes.”
Chris further stated that injecting code in the browser is an outdated approach which needs to be changed. The best alternatives that can be used by the applications are Chrome extensions and Native Messaging. Both these options are the best alternative and should lead to fewer crashes and more happy faces.
How Will this be Implemented?
Google stated that all these changes will take place in 3 different phases starting from Chrome Version 68.
Img Src: Chromium Blog
In first phase, i.e. April 2018, Chrome 66 will prompt a warning to the users whenever a crash on the browser occurs. After that, it will alert the users with the name of the culprit, i.e. the name of the program which is responsible for this crash. Also, it will further guide the users to either update or remove that software.
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The second phase will start in July 2018 with Chrome version 68. In this phase, first the browser will stop the third-party software from injecting code in the Chrome process. In case, if this results in stopping Chrome from starting then the browser will reload and allow the code to run. However, it will display a warning and help the user in removing that specific software.
The third phase will be the last phase, which will come by January 2019 with Chrome version 72. In this phase, all type of code injections will be permanently revoked.
Google finally stated that there will be some exceptions with this change. Microsoft-signed code, accessibility software, and IME software will remain unaffected and can inject the code into the browser.
Hopefully, this step from Google will surely help in making Chrome browser more stable with less or no crashes.
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