As you might have heard, Google is changing Chrome in a small, but substantial way. Soon, the Chrome App Launcher will be gone everywhere but Chrome OS. But why the change?
The short answer, according to Google, is that nobody uses it unless they’re using a Chromebook. Chrome is a mix of web browser and operating system, and the launcher is an extension of that, Chrome’s version of a Start menu or the OS X doc. However, most people don’t need a launcher; after all, if you need to use a web app, and most Chrome apps are little more than links in the first place, you’ve probably already got it saved in your bookmarks. So Google, in its pursuit of simplicity, is just going to strip it out.
On a more practical level, it’ll free up a little room for Chrome to better perform. Chrome is a notorious memory and data hog, so the more Google can pare it down, the better the browser will be. Also unspoken in all this was Google’s secret hope that people would embrace the operating system side of Chrome and switch away from their competitors, something that hasn’t exactly unfolded the way the company was hoping. But for now, if you do use Chrome apps, you can just type chrome://apps in your browser bar, and they’ll still be there.
(Via Google)