Google Zune… er, Chrome Is Here
Written by Chad on September 2nd, 2008
Well, it seems that the download link and page for the Google Chrome browser is up now. And in the immortal words of SpongeTron; “Everything is chrome in the future!!!!!!!!!”
One thing I notice right off the bat, Google is keeping with it horrid practice of deciding that is best.. it installed without asking WHERE *I* want to install it. *sigh* Hmm, it also seems to have a hard time importing Firefox settings while Firefox is running.. strange, Firefox can import while IE is running.
Well, so far not really impressed.. it is take almost twice the time it takes IE and FF to load a web page. No Java support yet, that is kind of a surprise. But this is a first public release of a beta, so all of this should hopefully change for the better.
“Porn Mode” .. er, Incognito Browsing.. not what I was hoping it would be. I was hoping it would keep people on the outside from knowing all about me, here it just keeps my browsing history off the computer I am using. Though, the guy in the trench coat and spy hat is cute.
Where are the bookmarks/favorites supposed to be? I can create shortcuts all over my desktop… but why would I want to do that?
Will it become my new browser of choice? Probably not. Will it change web browsing? Doubtfull. Will it improve Google’s services? Most likely. Will I do a deeper review than this? Naa. Save that for the fan boys and people with too much free time.
Update:
If you fear the Google Overlords too much ;) You can try the open-source project behind Chrome, Chromium. The project page has details on how to get the source and compile it for yourself, especially for different platforms. You can also download builds from here.
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It is a beta….
Honestly? WebKit is better than FF or IE so long term it will be a better browser. How long it takes them to get there? Who knows, but for now you can enjoy Safari…
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Didn’t you get the memo? CAPTCHA is dead!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/28/internet.captcha
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Everything is dead at one point or another… but it is still keeping my spam down..
Hmm, maybe it is because of Webkit then that I hate Safari.. and on Windows it is a pile of dog doodoo.
I will probably wait till a final release to try it again.. but it still not replace FF for me anytime soon.
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The two things you noticed were exactly the two things I said to myself too!
I’ll give it a go - though it won’t be fair comparison with FF really. The reason FF crashes for me seems to be issues with the various plug-ins rather than FF itself, and I doubt Google has any of those plug-ins yet.
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Enjoy FF then, because I consider it junk. IE8 does better than FF IMO.
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I believe very much in capitalism and doing what you can to be successful, but seriously, this is a search engine running an advertising machine! Their money comes from getting people to buy stuff they probably don’t need, and possibly don’t want, so how much sense does it make to use their products?
Besides, the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none,” comes to mind.
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As my coworker says.. “I hate all computers and the internet is just a fad”
Not going to get into the browser wars, they were done and over with in the 90s.
I have looked at Chrome (Dumb name IMHO) and compared in it what I do in FF and it is no better from what I have seen. Maybe it will be by final release.. but it is still no FF replacement for me.. ESPECIALLY if I can’t tell it where to install (D:\Programs\ exists for a reason)
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Chad, I can’t believe you have me defending google here but:
1. It is beta. No one should use it to replace a FF or IE. Google released it for reason 2.
2. Google needed to release a version for developers to work with.
Just because you can download Chrome, FF 3.1, IE8 or any other beta browser doesn’t mean you should and you shouldn’t expect full features from release one. Maybe this is the developer in me but these standards people try and hold beta releases to are unrealistic and unhelpful.
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James is turning into a Google fanboy? I don’t think I’ll be trying Chrome anytime soon, but it makes perfect sense for google to release a browser, I just wonder how far they will push things, in a years time will we find out it encourages you to visit high revenue sites or that it is collecting massive amounts of personal data?
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If #2 is right… where is the source? First thing to fix.. add install options!
You are right that I shouldn’t expect full features… but I would expect more out of something “in development for two years”.
Anyway, I have found where Chrome is much better than FF3 and IE7.. I use a hardware and software inventorying tool called Spiceworks and with using Chrome, the responsiveness is much better (into a bearable stage even).
But enough of this “we will install where we like and how we like” stuff.
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Answering my own question…
Getting Started
Source Tarball
Javascript Engine
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FYI….Oops we got caught..err..forgot
http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Removes+Big+Brother+Clause+in+Chromes+EULA/article12856.htm
KoS
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@KoS Lol
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there are options in google chrome to disable it reporting back to home. but the default installations are good for easier support and instant updates are good for security purposes.