Is Google Chrome worth all the Hype?
September 3rd, 2008 by Guillermo BravoGoogle has kept quiet with the release of Google Chrome up until a few days before it’s release. Direct competitors like Firefox 3 used social networks to set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads (8,002,530) in 24 hours, but was Chrome’s relatively silent roll-out successful? I’m shocked Google didn’t attempt to capitalize on the same niche markets as Firefox 3 by targeting websites like Digg and Reddit to spark interest by Tech users. Anyhow, here is my take on Google’s new web browser:
Why I think Google Chrome is great!
- Fast Browsing Speeds: From what I’ve seen, Google Chrome blows away Firefox 3, Internet Explorer (IE) 7, and Safari with its lighting fast loading speeds and new tab capabilities. Google Chrome loads up fast, and opens new tabs / web pages faster than any other browser I’ve used.
- Easy Transition: Google Chrome allows you to transition from Firefox 3 by easily importing all your saved bookmarks, passwords, and browsing history on the fly. But what about transitioning from Internet explorer?
- Slick Design: Google Chrome maximizes your browser real estate by using minimal header space and a small status bar on the browser window. The bookmark and address bar are perfectly placed leaving you with a pleasant browsing experience. The status bar doesn’t even appear on the bottom of the browser until there is an activity to report!
- CPU & Memory Usage: The browser even has it’s own task manager so that individual tabs or browser processes can be killed without shutting down the entire application. Chrome appears to use minimal cpu and memory allowing you to run numerous tabs and applications with optimum speeds.
Why Chrome is not so great… yet
- Security Vulnerabilities - Only one day after being released a security vulnerability was found that combines a security flaw in Webkit, the browser engine used by Google Chrome, with a Java bug. This is only one of the many bugs that have been found in the recent days. (source)
- Not many extensions - FireFox has a large number of plugin extensions such as firebug or rank checker that make life easier when dealing with development or search marketing tasks. Chrome doesn’t support browser extensions other than the standard flash - I guess we’ll have to wait on that one
- No cross OS versions - At the time of it’s initial release, Chrome is only available on Windows.
- Another web browser - We have yet another web browser in our long list of browsers that we are required to check before making sure our web applications look and work just right.
Google Chrome Features
Address Bar: Google Chrome has a slick address bar that allows you to search, bookmark and visit a webpage instantly. Simply type your search query or website address in the bar and you’re all set. You can bookmark a webpage by clicking the star directly on the left of the address bar. This address bar saves you great real estate on browser header leaving it clean and easy.
New Tab Page: When you open a new tab using the command ctr+T or by clicking on the plus symbol on the top right of the browser you get a new tab which includes:
- Links to websites you visit the most
- Recently closed tabs
- Recent saved websites
- Search engines that you use often
Crash Control: As stated earlier, all browser tabs run independently of each other on Google Chrome allowing for the rebooting of a web page tab without affecting others. Simply access the task manager in your broswer by pressing Shift+Esc and end any unwanted or frozen applications.
Simple Downloads: As opposed to a separate, windowed download manager like FireFox, Google Chrome has a simple download bar on the bottom of the browser which is small and easy to access, opening up into a new tab where you are able to search downloads.
Why did Google create their own browser?
Many people are asking why Google released this Chrome browser, I mean aren’t they supposed to be supporting FireFox? Apparently Matt Cutts explains that the big G is trying to make the internet a better place for web surfers who will in turn do more web searches, which we all know will likely create more mindshare for Google.
If you think about it, most web browsers were built years ago when people were still just browser web pages. Today, people are still browsing web pages but are also using web applications like search, chat, flash, uploading/downloading files, etc. - so Google’s attempting to build something that fits the needs of today’s internet users (not a bad idea and pretty cool if you ask me).
Are they spying on my browsing habits?
From what I understand, Chrome is an open source project. So you can study, compile, add features, distribute or even eat-it-for-breakfast if you so desire - my point being that I doubt Google is sending data to their servers to capture user behavior or you’d probably see a backlash from the tech crowd, which would not be good for Google.
Conclusion
Overall, I think Google Chrome is a superb browser and I’m anxious to see what new applications, and add-ons will be released. Sadly, not enough extensions limit the browser’s appeal, not to mention that Chrome is yet another browser thrown into the mix when developing websites (sigh).
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September 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
the worst about chrome is google itself. i neither like them tracking me even more (search,analytics,adwords,calender…) nor do I like the useragreement which states clearly that anything I ever do in chrome can be used by google. since there is no detailed specification of what that means, basically they can use your blog post (if written using chrome) for advertising without paying you.
so even if all flaws are fixed and the community contributes nice plugins I still wont use Chrome.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Chrome is better looking than the other browsers because it does not look so cluttered as Firefox with all its extensions and because it is not ugly as IE. I would still like a browser to have weather and time a standard part of the interface and a bookmark system that doesn’t take up too much real estate. I want to be able to click on a word and have it immediately defined without opening another page. When I backspace on a word I don’t want a zillion choices just Back, Copy, Define, Search, and Wikipedia. I also would like to be able to translate a page into English without having to see a bunch of international flag favicons. I find many of the extensions in Firefox and IE to take up too much space. I like StumbleUpon but does it really need its own toolbar. Chrome must find a way to keep its sleek design and still have all the power of the other browsers.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Opera is more than just a little faster than any other browser too. How does Chrome compare to Opera?
September 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Please note, this is not a wide release. It clearly states when you download Chrome that it is a BETA version of the software. It is not an official release and it is expected to have bugs. All the firefox betas and release candidates had bugs when testing and this is no exception. I personally have enjoyed using Chrome and look forward to the competition that it will foster in the browser community for them to improve their products or lose market share. Firefox is already working on a new java engine (tracemonkey) that is supposed to be even faster than the V8 engine that drives Chrome. Google has also already revised its EULA to remove the offensive language in section 11. Once there is an official release of Chrome then we should begin to see a greater number of extensions available since it is also an open source project.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Counter arguments to your reasoning of why chrome isn’t so great yet:
- Security Vulnerabilities
Any piece of software is bound to have security vulnerabilities. Take any popular software and have a security audit and there’s bound to be holes. Unfortunately the miracle of bug-free and vulnerability-free software has yet to be discovered
- Not Many Extensions
Extensions are the icing on the cake. I’m a web developer and manage everything I need to do without extensions on Firefox, so naturally I can do the same from any browser. Some people may prefer to have loads of extensions so they have a very bloated do-everything-and-more application, but none of it is necessary.
- Cross Compatibility
This is a non-issue.
You know it, I know it, tons of others know it - Mac / Linux versions are coming soon.
- Another Web Browser
Your reasoning cites checking created websites for compatibility. Well, the rendering engine is WebKit. That means if you check in one webkit browser, it’s going to look and function (nearly) exactly as any other webkit browser. ( I say nearly because they could be running different versions of webkit - which Safari and Chrome are, but the differences would be negligible. ) All you really need to check is Trident, Gecko, and WebKit, and you’re good to go. I see the “another web browser” point as a good thing, as hopefully it’ll spur some decent competition in the market. IE is failing, Firefox is no longer the savior it once was, Safari’s getting stale, and Opera is hidden in the shadows.
My $0.02.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Just like Firefox, the new chrome is missing things, do not show web pages properly in many cases.
the only decent web browser outside Internet explorer is Opera
September 26th, 2008 at 5:45 am
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