Google Earth also not supported in Edge Canary

MVP

it says

Oh no! Google Earth isn't supported by your browser yet. Try this link in Chrome instead. If you don't have Chrome installed, download it here.

Version 76.0.145.0 (Official build) canary (64-bit)

 

this is laughable how Google is doing this on purpose. it's something as simple as adding a user-agent to their sites which they could've done this a long time ago when the new Edge first released. Edge Canary has a lot more features and capabilities than google chrome. 

27 Replies

Google Earth works on Chrome only, and does not work on any other browser.


https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/18/google-makes-the-new-google-earth-chrome-exclusive/


(Edited at the request of HotCakeX)

@tomscharbach I run 76.0.145.0 and all I get is a stupid page vaunting how great Google Earth is and asking me to open it in Chrome. After that, it tells me that my browser isn't supported.

It doesn't work for me in Version 75.0.139.1 (Official build) dev (64-bit).

 

 

are you sure you're not using any extension in your browser that changes user agent or something like that?

@tomscharbach This is getting weirder and weirder because @Deleted has reported the same problem with the Dev version.

No, I'm getting it with the dev version.  This is the error I get.

 

Aw snap! Google Earth isn't supported by your browser yet. Try this link in Chrome instead. If you don't have Chrome installed, download it here.

@tomscharbach 

 

That is very strange.  I am using Windows 10.  I disabled my extension in Edge Chromium dev.  I closed Google Earth and Edge Chromium.  I rebooted and restarted Edge Chromium and tried Google Earth and still get the error.  No idea why it works for you but not for me.

@tomscharbach I just installed both Canary and Dev on my Surface Pro 4, both without any extension, history cleared and not logged in to Google anywhere. In spite of all that, Google Earth doesn't work in either version.

@tomscharbach 

 

:smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

@tomscharbach @bhenshaw @HotCakeX 

 

I tested a couple more browsers: Vivaldi and Brave both of them start off with a click on "Launch Earth in Chrome" followed by a picture of space with a corner of the Earth and the words Google Earth. Nothing more.

 

What's Google doing? Is Google Earth down?

@tomscharbach 

 

That appears to be the case.  I hadn't thought of that.  I tried IE and it didn't work either.  I thought maybe any chromium based browser would work, but that doesn't appear to be the case.  I found this article on the web.

 

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/04/18/google-makes-the-new-google-earth-chrome-exclusive/

@tomscharbach 

you better edit your previous comments so others won't be misled...

@HotCakeX   "you better edit your previous comments so others won't be misled..."

 

Done.

I think it has to do with Google's proprietary Native Client. WebAssembly is the standard.

I'm not even sure what WebAssembly and Native Client *actually do* but I know it has to do with performance.

 

Edit: I did a quick search. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18677689

 

"It looks like they are waiting on WebAssembly Threading. I agree with you though, Google should help develop WebAssembly vs just creating a Chrome only solution:

"Our 3D rendering engine currently uses a Chrome-only technology called Native Client to power Earth Studio. However, we’re closely tracking the evolution of WebAssembly (especially threading). Stay tuned!""

 

"> Google should help develop WebAssembly vs just creating a Chrome only solution

The people who can do Google Earth Flybys might not be the same that could implement WebAssembly Threading, even though they work at the same company."

 

"> Google should help develop WebAssembly

Google is heavily involved in WebAssembly planning and implementation in Chrome/V8. They have threading enabled chrome://flags"

 

From these three comments I feel like Google is at fault. I'm really happy that a quick search lead to so much information! :)

@pneenkoalabear For those of you who want to test the Google Earth preview beta, it is online and seems to work.

Yup, Google Earth beta is working with Edge Version 77.0.218.0 (Official build) canary (64-bit)
, the Google Earth normal ver however is still not working. Google hasn't backed off from their stupid Edge blockade yet.

@HotCakeX "Yup, Google Earth beta is working with Edge Version 77.0.218.0 (Official build) canary (64-bit), the Google Earth normal ver however is still not working. Google hasn't backed off from their stupid Edge blockade yet."

 

Although I despise Google, I don't think that it is a matter of Google blockading Edge Chromium. 

 

The Google Earth beta uses WebAssembly, which modern browsers (e.g. Edge Chromium and Firefox)  support, while the "normal" (that is, current production) version of Google Earth uses PNaCl, which is a depreciated, legacy technology that is not supported by Edge Chromium, Firefox or most other modern browsers.

 

All is not entirely well in the Google Earth world, however.  WebAssembly is designed to be multi-threaded, enabled by SharedArrayBuffer (SAB), which was disabled in most browsers in the wake of the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.  Google Chrome uses uses SAB, but also uses site isolation to mitigate the risks.  Other browsers (Firefox, for example) disable SAB, and Google Earth beta does not multi-thread in those browsers.  I don't know how Edge Chromium deals with this issue.

 

I think that is is important to keep in mind that the Google Earth beta is (in the words of Google) "an experimental version" that is not yet fully functional.  We'll see what happens going forward.

 

As a side note, opening the Google Earth beta in EdgeHTML (Edge Classic) gets this:

 

Google Earth EdgeHTML 2019-07-14.jpg

 

I don't know, but I'm thinking that this is probably related to the SAB issue.

 

 

they lie to the user for force them to switch to chrome, it would be nice if microsoft lock feature of their site from chrome only juste for let see google what's they do to other