Angry Birds released for the PC - why it matters for business
The war on Windows takes a strange twist.
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Angry Birds - a wildly popular game for Apple iOS and Android phones and tablets - has been released in a PC version today (in beta).
In the interests of research, I've already played it. Instead of using your fingers to sling birds, you have to go with a less satisfying mouse control. Still, not bad.
So what's the business computing angle?
The PC version of Angry Birds is available for Windows, but it costs $US4.99 from Intel's AppCentre.
Angry Birds publisher Rovio is pushing people to Google's Chrome Webstore, where Angry Birds can be downloaded for free.
The catch is that the programme comes in the form of an extension for Chrome - you play it inside Google's web browser by clicking an Angry Birds icon that appears on Chrome's toolbar following the download.
It looks pretty much like the standalone version of Angry Birds, but you must have Chrome.
Chrome's been struggling. With its tens of millions - or is that hundreds of millions - of acolytes, Birds, stupid as it may sound, may be just the thing to boost Chrome out of its 10% - 15% browser share doldrums.
That's important, because the new, internet-only Chromebook laptops announced today are centred around the Chrome OS, too which the Chrome browser is central.
Angry Birds could get more people using Chrome and, more importantly, acclimatise them to the idea of Chrome-based apps. If Windows does fall, or get just leaned on a little, Google could have Angry Birds to thank.
Tweetdeck's Chrome extension
By the way, another promising app is the Tweetdeck Chrome extension. It means you're using the popular Twitter client entirely in your browser, rather than the resource-hog Adobe Air-based standalone Tweetdeck app most are familiar with. Nice idea on paper, but unfortunately I couldn't get the beta version to import my columns and other settings.
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Angry Birds released for the PC - why it matters for business
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