Google Chrome

[Edward Elrich]

Well, since Google has announced that they are creating their own web browser, (PC World article here (http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007645.html)) what are people's opinions?

To me, it looks like Google took Firefox 3, created a custom skin, and stuck on some of the more popular addons (except AdBlock Plus, which would make their advertising services completely useless). The only thing I see going for the browser is the functionality for Google-based applications and the task mangaer, both of which will probably see addons created for Firefox. And it's only a matter of time before an addon for non-proxy anonymous browsing is created.

And since it's Google, the browser will probably have some unblockable tracking software to help them deliver more user-targeted ads (despite any claim to the contrary, I wouldn't be surprised if it's still there).

And the main reason that this browser will not be as good IMO: it appears that there will be no addon support.

They released the comic book too soon, before a beta even went public. Giving Mozilla and Microsoft too much time to come up with browser updates and addons to counter this.

I'll still download it to see exactly how different it is, an if it is better or not, by my prediction is that the browser will tank in less than a year.

[Sel]

Google seems to do a good job with pretty much everything they create, so It's pretty unlikely it'll be bad.

[Kornman00]

Why can't they just team up with the Firefox devs :'(

[Sel]

Why can't they team up with the Audiosurf devs.

[klange]

They didn't take Firefox and do anything, not even in a metaphorical sense. Chrome runs on WebKit, not Gecko. Though, yes, I'm sure all of these crazy process and memory management things will appear in Firefox.

[Limited]

I doubt the main features of Google Chrome will ever be in Firefox, they've have to completely re haul everything, which would put them back many years.

New tab system sounds very intriguing. UI looks awful in my opinion though.

[Rob Oplawar]

Until I actually get my hands on it, there isn't much I can say except that it looks like nothing new. Hell, I was about to say that I expect novelty from Google, but come to think of it, they don't seem to come up with good new ideas so much as they come up with good implementations of old ideas. In my perfect dream world Chrome will be right on par with Firefox, and the fierce competition between the two will keep the browser wars going while still pushing ie out of the picture. :D

[Limited]

Until I actually get my hands on it, there isn't much I can say except that it looks like nothing new. Hell, I was about to say that I expect novelty from Google, but come to think of it, they don't seem to come up with good new ideas so much as they come up with good implementations of old ideas. In my perfect dream world Chrome will be right on par with Firefox, and the fierce competition between the two will keep the browser wars going while still pushing ie out of the picture. :D
I suggest you read the comic in full.

[Terry]

This is great. Since google is full of really smart people, they'll definitely make some pretty good breakthroughs. And since its open source, other browsers can benefit. Win-win.

[Zeph]

I wont be using it. There's no good reason for me to do so over firefox 3.

[Hotrod]

I wont be using it. There's no good reason for me to do so over firefox 3.
Same here, Firefox has never let me down, and I don't think it ever will. In plus, I don't like the Google Chrome UI.

[Amit]

I doubt the main features of Google Chrome will ever be in Firefox, they've have to completely re haul everything, which would put them back many years.

New tab system sounds very intriguing. UI looks awful in my opinion though.

Damn straight.


I wont be using it. There's no good reason for me to do so over firefox 3.

We'll find out when the time comes.


Same here, Firefox has never let me down, and I don't think it ever will. In plus, I don't like the Google Chrome UI.

. Although Google may become just as appealing. We just have to wait and see. I hope they rename it too. Chrome? WTF? I'd expect the Gizoogle counterpart to be named that.

[Edward Elrich]

So I downloaded it just for fun, to see what it's like and if it's worth it or not.

Not surprisingly, the Freewebs editor (yes, sad isn't it? Having to use Freewebs for a website for web design class) is still the editor for Mozilla. I might end up using this one at school at least (especially if it's made into a portable app) because it definitely loads pages faster than Firefox and IE. The only disadvantage is no addons as of yet.
Downloads are slower than IE and Firefox.
Still no print selected text in the context menu...

And so many key commands exactly the same as Firefox.
Strange, I thought they'd have thumbnail imagaes for results in their search, considering it's Google.
No folders on in the "view cookies" makes me mad, but also shows how many ad services try to track your browsing to select the ads you would be more likely to click on.
Doesn't have enough to make me want to switch yet, since Firefox has been usually stable (occasional crash, but nothing too serious yet).

And I found the secret to the "closing a tab won't continue to eat up memory" thing Google's going on about: each tab is a separate "chrome.exe" process in Task Manager. Which is probably the reason for the internal task manager.

edit: forgot one thing that I actually liked about it: the "do you want to save your password" message does not show up until you successfully log into whichever website that required it.

[Rob Oplawar]

I suggest you read the comic in full.
Comic? what comic?
:confused:

[Terry]

This comic (http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/). It gives a more detailed explanation of the various features.

[Terin]

I'm using Google Chrome right now. It's actually pretty nice. Very smooth, the auto-complete thing in the address bar seems a lot more intuitive than Firefox's. And according to the comic, Google is setting up a good interface for devs to make plug-ins, so we might see stuff in the near-future. The tabs on the top seem a lot better, in my opinion. I'm going to give it a try for a week or two, and see out it compares. So far, I'm liking it. My only big complaint is that the scrolling seems to be a lot faster than Firefox, and I'm using a touchpad, so it's not very controllable.

EDIT: Hot damn, the address bar is awesome. It has Google search and history searching built in. I could type in, say, Barack Obama or John McCain, and bam, I get their main websites, that I've never visited, just by typing and pressing enter. :awesome:

I'm not won over by this until people make awesome plug-ins, though.

[Edward Elrich]

And there's no option to change number of lines for scrolling unfortunately. Hopefully a dev forum will be released soon so people can give suggestions and stuff.

I'm neutral about which I like better, it depends on what kind of plugins are released for Chrome.

[Rob Oplawar]

Ah Google, your cunning advertising scheme succeeds once again. I'm sold, and I'm not even done reading the comic. :P
Will be downloading soon. Too bad they don't have a Linux version yet, as Ubuntu is my primary OS now.

[Reaper Man]

Chrome seems nice, but there are issues with it that will keep me in Firefox for now. Firstly, the weird bug that prevents you from scrolling up using a laptop trackpad. The lack of add-ons (and plugins - had to install a beta version of java) is annoying too, I'm spoiled by Firefox's adblock plus plugin, now I feel assaulted by adverts. Also, the Stylish and Greasemonkey plugins for firefox are extremely missed.

I do love the aesthetics of this browser though.

[Rob Oplawar]

*is using Chrome now*
I'm digging the minimalism.
Plus, the javascript on my forum only broke a little bit, and that was because of a bug in my own code that Firefox had forgiven. If Chrome handles my site the way I designed it, I'm happy.

e: I also love the seamless transition I made into the browser. On the surface it's like I just switched to a new Firefox skin. Still have Firefox as my default, tho. Not ready to abandon my baby just yet.

ee: ok, I'm betting this goes hand-in-hand with the bug Reaper mentioned- I almost always scroll by clicking the mousewheel in and dragging the mouse to change the scrolling speed, and it's not letting me do that. :saddowns:

[Edward Elrich]

It's basically Google's spin on Chromium, and I'm not impressed yet, too many things don't work properly for me. Still going to use Firefox for now.

[Reaper Man]

I agree with rob, besides the several bugs, it does feel like Firefox with a new skin, no learning curve like when I switched from IE 6 to Firefox. However, until there are add-ons for Chrome, I'll stick with Firefox as there's no real incentive to switch as of yet.

[SMASH]

Oh man, I'm running Chrome now and I have to say I am extremely impressed. I've noticed a speed difference almost immediately and I like how it's a non-intrusive browser that highlights the internet, not itself. I'm sold on Chrome.

[Timo]

Chrome is awesome, I think I just found my new browser ^_^

[Kalub]

Needs less, "Recent porn you've watched" page. :\

[Timo]

Ctrl+Shift+N and you get a new 'Incognito' window that nothing is saved off of.

[Kalub]

Anyway to make that default unless I tell it not to? IE: Vice versa?

[NullZero]

Absolutely loving the multi-thread process & sandbox idea. Also loving the startup speed (like 1000000x faster than firefox :D)

[Corgy]

tried it out but it made for a lonely browsing experience and i argh and the loneliness aaaaah back to firefox i went

[Rob Oplawar]

I miss the form autocomplete. I also miss my webdeveloper plugins. Tentatively I'm gonna say for now that Chrome will be my general surfing browser and Firefox will be my everything else browser. Yes, I do a lot more online than just surf.
fapfapfapfa- owait, I'm still in Chrome.

[Jelly]

I really like the application shortcuts. I can instantly check my Gmail or new forum topics.

Linux version isn't available yet, but I find that Swiftweasel (http://swiftweasel.tuxfamily.org/) is just as fast for browsing, but still allows Firefox addons to be installed.

[Edward Elrich]

lol at the incognito mode's "main page"


Be wary of:
Websites that collect or share information about you
Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
Surveillance by secret agents
People standing behind you:lol::lol::lol:
The last one should be obvious, but isn't to everyone.

[klange]

Used it on my XP dual-boot earlier today. Not happy. Fast? It took 10 seconds to load a page off of my own server, on my own network. Lack of other features sucks as well.

[Phopojijo]

It's fast for me.

There's a few problems I have though:

1) No Middle-Mouse Click-Scroll.
2) Weird cookie support, most likely because Google's an advertiser.
3) Its EULA (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080903-google-on-chrome-eula-controversy-our-bad-well-change-it.html) even though that apparently was just a Lawyer being paranoid... rather than Google attempting to lay claims to every blog post/etc. made with Chrome.

[Evil_Monkey]

It also seems extremely fast at loading pages for me, a load time is literally instant. I also think it looks great IMO, it also looks clean.


1) No Middle-Mouse Click-Scroll.
I also dislike not having the Middle-Mouse Click-Scroll feature

[Heathen]

Did no one here have to do that --no-sandbox thing?

I rather my maxthon over anything because of the ease of browsing. I have it set to when I click and drag links it automatically starts a background tab, close on middle click, shit like that.

E: Been a few minutes. I AM LOVING IT. Still will use maxthon often though.

[Edward Elrich]

Until they get the issues worked out (some javascript isn't functioning properly) it'll be Firefox, after I've taken the new IE for a spin.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

I like this, I think I like it more than firefox.
<3 google

[LinkandKvel]

anyone else get a few sec "hang" when switching between tabs? I'm pretty sure it has something to do with each tab running its own app thing though.

[Edward Elrich]

Yeah, usually when I'm on Facebook on the current tab, but it's not enough to get me really angry. It may also just be that the browser still isn't properly handling the tab switch. I'd say that this will be gone by the browser's release.

[Daishi]

I am using chrome currently, have been since it came out, and honestly I don't have any of the problems that people are talking about.

[Anton]

I've been using it the last few days, and I love it. Took a bit of getting used to though.:)

[DrunkenSamus]

I'll stick to my Firefox kthxbai.

[Huero]

It's good, but to be honest it seems to fit right in with the IE/Mozilla copycat crowd :/
The minimalism is nice, but what REALLY pisses me off is the lack of ability to click the middle wheel and simply move your mouse and scroll.

[armoman92]

NOTHING ON FIREFOX, YET (CAPSLOCK BUTTON BROKEN SRY)

LIKE THE INCOGNITO FEATURE:cool:

[kenney001]

this browser is the minimalist's dream .I LOVE IT!

Its also faster to me than firefox 3...
I have already set it as my default browser...

[Gamerkd16]

It may be fast, but it's too simple for me. Firefox has all the addons that I use daily and the many options I can configure.
I do like how they copied Firefox's "Star Bookmark" idea though. :eyesroll:

But yeah, I love how they posted that in Incognito Mode:


Going incognito doesn't affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:
People standing behind you"Are you saying that if there is a person behind me, they can see the page I am on?! Even if I'm incognito?! Google, thank you for announcing that! I did not know that a physical body was able to get past the secrecy of Incognito!" :lol:

But yeah. If Firefox were to make multiple tabs as multiple processes, they would top Google even more.

[CN3089]

Trying it out. It's alright so far, but I'm sorely missing my Mouse Gestures extension. http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/CN3089/Emoticons/emot-effort.gif


e: and my Stylish extension, now YouTube burns my eyes again http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/CN3089/Emoticons/07-19-06-smith.gif

[Edward Elrich]

*missing my Facebook extension that doesn't make me load the homepage whenever I want to check for posts etc...*

Oh well, it's a start, but I can't wait for it to improve...

[aarathy]

I think it was the great effort of Google to announce their web browser. Chrome include many feature. It have a homepage of nine instant-access shortcut thumbnails with a sidebar of recent searches and tabs. The tabs themselves will be switched to above the window, not below it as on Firefox, and there’ll be a privacy option. It makes the web faster, safer, and easier.

[Needles]

I like it. I get 4 homepage taps (bungie.net, forum.halomaps.org, modacity.net, google.com). And it's super fast (when there is only one or two tabs though).

[Heathen]

I like it you grumpy Gus's.