Chrome: Google’s new browser. The only way you would not have heard about this is if you’re hiding under a rock as all the technology news sites are talking about it; certainly Techmeme has been flooded with information about it over the last couple of days. So .. here are some personal pointers about it:
The Good
- It’s as fast and lightweight as you could wish any browser to be.
- I love the start screen that shows you your top used websites. You don’t have to define them, it just figures it out from your browsing pattern.
The Bad
- Well, it’s still in beta, so a number of things are lacking. It’s not terribly buggy, but don’t expect to use 100% of the websites you used to use before (example Facebook)
- I haven’t seen any specs for an extension framework. I won’t be switching away from Firefox till I have AdBlock and FireBug, just to mention my 2 favourite plugins.
The Ugly
- The security guys have already found some potential security holes.
- Does Google really think they own all the content you use your browser to submit. That’s a major faux pas.
The main thing you need to realise however is that this is just the first iteration of this software, so there’s bound to be bad and ugly bits floating around. Some initial skepticism has already been addressed, for example, Google does not directly monitor what sites you visit, but they still have a way to go yet.
What did you like and what did you hate?
“Does Google really think they own all the content you use your browser to submit. That’s a major faux pas.”
And I thought I was being overly cynical … I knew I should have those T&C’s.
http://www.programx.co.uk/blog/Blogging-About-NET/2008/09/02/All-hail-Google-Chrome.aspx
It is FAST, Sitecore flies in it and obviously GMail works very fast. Facebook half works. The threaded tabs are ace, and I’m pleased that IE occupies less memory than Chrome.
I was going to use Chrome for leisure browsing, since sites I visit are very JS heavy and I don’t want to annoy Sitecore in IE and lose anything, but having read that article about the T&C’s I might just change my mind.
E-e-e-v-v-i-i-l-l-l-l
By the way, your XHTML hint below here is misleading, “B”, “I” are not XHTML. They were deprecated by “STRONG”, “EM”. Sorry to nitpick, I HATE B AND I!
@Nathan: Pretty sure the T&Cs will be adjusted now that someone has noticed what half the Internet has signed up to 😉
btw, the Tabs aren’t actually “threaded”, but actually live within their own process boundary, which is why they can offer real isolation between one tab and another
(fixed the “XHTML” hint below. Does that work for you?)
Re: “threaded”. You’re right, I was repeating what a colleague said to me without thinking. But then again, each process would have its own threads, so I’m sort of right 😉
Re: XHTML hint. Nice. Death to B, I, FONT, IFRAME and the rest of the HTML family!
Looks like Matt Cutts has reported the T&Cs will be amended: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-license-agreement/
You use AdBlock? But you have an ad-supported website! AdBlocking is evil. At least the sort that you and I run… if there was something that could kill all the popovers then I’d be happy with that!
@Mark: Couldn’t live without AdBlock. And ads don’t really support this site, my day job pays for the hosting not the $5 a month I get from AdWords.
It’s funny actually. I always wondered why Facebook never used that white space on the left-hand side of the page. It was only when I accidentally used IE one day that I realised they had ads there 😉
$5 a month… I guess all your visitors use AdBlock too then 😉
Mines a little more than that – but you’re right about the day job… won’t be giving it up for a while yet!
Back on topic – loving Chrome, considering it’s a beta a bound to have the odd glitch here and there.
(you’ll notice there aren’t even any Adwords on this site anymore) ..
Anyway .. yeah .. love playing with Chrome .. especially it’s task manager
Say hi to all the boys at CGO for me 😉
It’s extremely odd that Macs and Linux were left out of the initial release.
@Robert: Don’t think it’s odd at all. If you only had enough time to release it for one OS, which OS would you choose? I would target the 95% of desktop users using Windows.
I have been anxiously awaiting Chrome’s extensions for forever. At this point I have played with 7 of them and am awed with them. Firefox 3.5 has begun to slowed with use & the extensions are a welcome change.