14 DAY TRIAL // Google has finally released a version of Google Chrome Frame which doesn't require administrative privileges to install, removing the last major hurdle for those with no alternatives to Internet Explorer.
For almost a couple of years now, Google has been offering a way for those stuck with old versions of Internet Explorer to access the modern web via the Google Chrome Frame, a plugin for IE which embeds the Chrome rendering engine and JavaScript engine.
But the plugin required administrative privileges to install, a big problem since it's quite common in the business environment for users to have only limited permissions.
"There was one remaining obstacle to making Chrome Frame accessible to users of older browsers - users needed to have administrative privileges on their machines to install Chrome Frame. At this year's Google I/O we announced this obstacle has finally been removed," Robert Shield, Software Engineer at Google, wrote.
The non-admin Chrome Frame 14 is now available in the dev channel and it will be hitting the beta channel and later the stable channel in the coming weeks.
It's take quite some time, but Google was able to come up with a way of installing the plugin as a regular user. This means that anyone will be able to install Chrome Frame without permission from an administrator, a great way of expanding its use.
"Non-Admin Chrome Frame runs a helper process at startup to assist with loading the Chrome Frame plug-in into Internet Explorer," he explained.
"The helper process is designed to consume almost no system resources while running. Once installed, non-admin users will have the same no-friction experience that admin users of Chrome Frame have today," he added.
Admins are not going to like this very much, though the actual risk of installing Chrome Frame is rather small, users won't be able to do anything more than they already can. Still, Google is also providing a tool for admins to prohibit the install of Chrome Frame, even the new version.
Google Chrome Frame is available for download here.