July 9, 2008

Google Lively Not Lively on Macs

I really wanted to try Google’s new virtual world, Lively. Unfortunately, it made the mistake of making the product Windows-only. So instead of doing something like writing a review, I’m writing a post bitching about that.

In fact, watching FriendFeed today I saw just as many items with people bitching about the lack of Mac support as there were regular comments on the product itself. Even Google employees were saying it.

Granted, the FriendFeed community, and my friends in particular, may be somewhat Mac-biased, but you increasingly hear grumbles of this nature throughout the Internet when a product launches as Windows-only. I’m still waiting for Netflix to get their heads out of their asses and release a Mac-compatible version of “Watch Now”.

I completely understand that for some small developers it’s hard to code for two or more completely different systems, but come on, this is Google. Their CEO is on Apple’s board of directors for god’s sake!

Yes, I have Windows XP on my iMac and could dual boot it if I really wanted to, but it’s kind of a pain in the ass when I have stuff open for work. Besides, doing that to run Lively would come with an unwanted side effect: having to use Windows (something which I haven’t done on my computer in close to nine months).

 Posted at 4:37 am by MG Siegler
Posted under: Technology Tags: , , ,
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  • allen
    mac schmac
  • Czar
    Oh it's too bad that Google Lively is not compatible on Mac. But don't you worry. I believe that it will just be for now. Google is certainly working to fix this thing. I think they're not that dumb to realize that there are lots of Mac users around the world who are craving for their services.


    Just be patient though.
  • TDavid
    "Yes, I have Windows XP on my iMac and could dual boot it if I really wanted to, but it's kind of a pain in the ass when I have stuff open for work."


    Taking Google's bait maybe? Seems like clever Google marketing to release without Mac support so all the Apple fanboys cry and then they can later placate them with a follow-up version that does support the Mac.



    You aren't missing much *but* in the same (or less) time you rebooted you could have checked it out to see what you thought and wrote about that instead.
  • Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
    It's a PC-only world, man. Look at the facts on the production side.... this is a 20% time project, and it requires a download. They probably had the resources to only develop for one platform - they could design for Mac and have it sit in Labs for perpetuity, or go for the much bigger market of PC, and have it actually see wider release.


    Mind you, I'm not particularly pleased with it either. every time I try to install it, it fails, saying some other google product is installing at the moment and to try again later.
  • MG Siegler
    @czar - oh i'm sure they are. i just don't like to wait :)


    @tdavid - maybe, but better marketing would be working on apple at the same time



    @rizzn - yeah yeah, i just expect better from google.
  • Charbarred
    Not making software available to the "more likely to be early adopters" mac users is always a mistake.
    I do have to put some blame on Apple though. They spend so much time making their systems look good that they forget to create good development platforms. It's just much easier to develop for Windows, and if you're a company like Google that likes to get things out fast, you're likely to skip Mac until you have proof of concept.

    I'd really like to see Apple making more of an effort towards developers.
  • Silverbrow
    The Picasa download is PC only as well.
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