{"id":8871,"date":"2016-03-23T13:44:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T17:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=8871"},"modified":"2016-03-23T13:44:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T17:44:58","slug":"google-kills-the-chrome-app-launcher-on-windows-mac-and-linux-pcworld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2016\/03\/23\/google-kills-the-chrome-app-launcher-on-windows-mac-and-linux-pcworld\/","title":{"rendered":"Google kills the Chrome app launcher on Windows, Mac, and Linux | PCWorld"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ian Paul<\/a>\u00a0 | PCWorld<\/a><\/p>\n

Google\u2019s attempted invasion of the Windows desktop<\/a> is now officially over. The Chrome-maker recently announced that the Chrome app launcher<\/a> will be removed from Windows, Mac, and Linux in July, though it\u2019ll stick around in Chrome OS. Google says it\u2019s dumping the app launcher in the name of streamlining the browser after discovering that most Chrome users \u201cprefer to launch their apps from within Chrome<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The app launcher was one of three Chrome browser features that appeared to be specifically designed to turn Chrome into a \u201cplatform within a platform\u201d on Windows. In addition to the app launcher\u2014which sat in the taskbar and allowed users to fire up Chrome apps just like a normal desktop program, miming Windows Start menu functionality\u2014Google killed Chrome\u2019s notification center<\/a> in October. That feature was replaced with native web push notifications, a standardized feature that sites can use across all browsers.<\/p>\n

Beyond those two features, Google also created a modern UI version of the browser for Windows 8 that essentially put Chrome OS inside Windows<\/a>. Microsoft\u2019s decision to do away with Windows 8\u2019s ill-advised dual UI for a more traditional desktop in Windows 10 killed Google\u2019s attempt at \u201cChrome OS for Windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impact on you at home:<\/strong> If you\u2019re one of the few fans of Chrome\u2019s app launcher, Google may still provide a way for you to launch Chrome apps from the taskbar. Right now, you can create a desktop shortcut for Chrome apps by typing chrome:\/\/apps<\/code> into the Omnibox, right-clicking an app, and then selecting Create shortcuts.<\/em> The shortcut can then be dragged from the desktop onto the taskbar. We\u2019re confirming with Google that this functionality will remain once the app launcher goes away and will update this story should the company respond.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ian Paul\u00a0 | PCWorld Google\u2019s attempted invasion of the Windows desktop is now officially over. The Chrome-maker recently announced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[190,192,424],"class_list":["post-8871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","tag-chrome","tag-chrome-os","tag-google"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-2j5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8744,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/11\/11\/8744\/","url_meta":{"origin":8871,"position":0},"title":"Chrome to drop support for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and older Mac OS X versions in 2016","author":"NCCT","date":"November 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By Ian Ginos | Neowin Google Chrome, by some estimates the world's third most popular desktop web browser, will cease to support older versions of Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X operating systems. In a recent blog post, Google announced that it intends to discontinue support for Chrome on Windows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7766,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/03\/10\/playing-minecraft-no-longer-makes-your-pc-a-juicy-target-for-hackers\/","url_meta":{"origin":8871,"position":1},"title":"Playing Minecraft no longer makes your PC a juicy target for hackers","author":"NCCT","date":"March 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The folks at Microsoft-owned Mojang just gave PC users one more reason to uninstall Java from their systems. The Minecraft launcher for PC now installs and manages its own instance of Oracle\u2019s software. The version of Java the new Minecraft launcher uses is contained within the game\u2019s directory\u2014meaning you no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7648,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/26\/chrome-security-update-warns-against-sneaky-software-downloads-as-well-as-malware\/","url_meta":{"origin":8871,"position":2},"title":"Chrome security update warns against sneaky software downloads as well as malware","author":"NCCT","date":"February 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Google is adding a new warning to Chrome in its continuing efforts to protect users from harmful actors on the web. The new red flag for Google\u2019s browser warns you when you\u2019re about to visit a site that encourages users to download harmful and unwanted software. 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The loss was caused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3204,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/19\/chrome-challenges-firefox-may-become-no-2-browser\/","url_meta":{"origin":8871,"position":4},"title":"Chrome challenges Firefox, may become No. 2 browser","author":"NCCT","date":"August 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla's Firefox browser has lost more than 11 percent of its user share in the last two months, giving Google's Chrome another shot at replacing it as the world's No. 2 browser, according to new data. 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