Google Chrome

Big-K · Sep 8, 2008 , 01:44 AM

Anyone tried this new Google browser yet?

http://www.google.com/chrome

I gave it a test ride and so far so good - I'm impressed with the speed and the clean interface - but I still like Firefox for all the add-ons currently available. There's still some negative buzz about the EULA agreement and privacy, but I'm sure that will be resolved soon.

Microsoft had better hurry up with that Yahoo deal and also come up with cutting edge products.

salstep · Sep 8, 2008 , 02:34 AM

Looks good. Downloaded when it became available on tuesday. First impressions are good but like you i will stick to Firefox for now.

Dapxin · Sep 8, 2008 , 06:19 AM

most of the features, I'd say 70% are rip offs of Opera. So no google. Bring on Gindows and I can blink.

For now, Opera simply rocks! too much

DeepThought · Sep 8, 2008 , 09:36 PM

Are you people saying I should abandon IE?

Lalakokofefe · Sep 8, 2008 , 09:44 PM

Tried Chrome as well the day it was released. I like the simple light interface. But, will wait until they work out all the kinks.
I actually use both Firefox and IE. Most of the applications i run at work dont work with Firefox ... thats the only reason i still have IE.

katampe · Sep 9, 2008 , 02:13 AM

The Chrome has a simple user interface. But seems it incorporates diagnostic tools for malware, I noticed it flashed a stop sign with a warning and the IP address of probably the website (have to do a domain search to confirm).

Did some browsing with it, and it looks like such a neat tool. It was such a nice feel on the test run. But I prefer firefox for some reason (always hated IE, was a fan of Netscape), I noticed when you click the spanner to the right of the address bar, and select options under the drop down, and click on the tab, ' under the hood," it takes you to internet options normally found in Internet Explorer. That is the place you can tweak stuff, if you need to user proxy settings. It seems a bit odd to me.

This browser might not have full browser features like other browsers, and maybe plugs into the main browser already installed for full effects. By the way , I also use Safari, and I think folks should try it out. The fonts and the thickness are gentle on the eyes. I think it is one of the best browsers around.

Dapxin · Sep 9, 2008 , 02:22 AM

Originally Posted by katampe

The Chrome has a simple user interface. But seems it incorporates diagnostic tools for malware, I noticed it flashed a stop sign with a warning and the IP address of probably the website (have to do a domain search to confirm).

Did some browsing with it, and it looks like such a neat tool. It was such a nice feel on the test run. But I prefer firefox for some reason (always hated IE, was a fan of Netscape), I noticed when you click the spanner to the right of the address bar, and select options under the drop down, and click on the tab, ' under the hood," it takes you to internet options normally found in Internet Explorer. That is the place you can tweak stuff, if you need to user proxy settings. It seems a bit odd to me.

This browser might not have full browser features like other browsers, and maybe plugs into the main browser already installed for full effects. By the way , I also use Safari, and I think folks should try it out. The fonts and the thickness are gentle on the eyes. I think it is one of the best browsers around.

All these things have been embedded in opera for more than a year now. Imho, the Opera guys are the true innovateors of browser features over the last 7 years that I have used them.

- they brought in tabbed browsing since ver 5 or 6, and FF sold it as new feature.
- they brought in mouse gestures (which , if you ever tried ? You will never ever use the www without for the rest of your life ) and FF implemented it via a 3rd party plugin
- they brough in this one google are shouting as removable tabs ages ago.

- I could go on. Seriously the one undoing of Opera was the shambolic attempt to sell the product up until ver 8 but its been free ever since.

- Try its very latest editition here http://snapshot.opera.com/windows/o960s_10421m.exe and see things in perspective.

btw, IE is crap - I actually think the MS programmers are overpaid lazy lots.

Shoko Loko Bangoshe · Sep 9, 2008 , 03:09 AM

Originally Posted by dapxin

btw, IE is crap - I actually think the MS programmers are overpaid lazy lots.

Do you seriously think that hardworking programmers are all that are required to produce good software? If so, then you cannot really understand the software development process.

Dapxin · Sep 9, 2008 , 03:28 AM

Originally Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe

Do you seriously think that hardworking programmers are all that are required to produce good software? If so, then you cannot really understand the software development process.

Your excellency Sir.

programming hardwork != software bliss. Agreed.

Still, with the advantage Windows gave Microsoft, they all should offer more than what IE7 offers. That said, IE is probably the best rendering on the windows afaik. I may be wrong.

out.

Shoko Loko Bangoshe · Sep 9, 2008 , 03:55 AM

Originally Posted by dapxin

Your excellency Sir.

programming hardwork != software bliss. Agreed.

Still, with the advantage Windows gave Microsoft, they all should offer more than what IE7 offers. That said, IE is probably the best rendering on the windows afaik. I may be wrong.

out.

I'm not saying IE is great myself. Personally, I think that Microsoft is hindered by having to use a lot of legacy code that it simply isn't cost effective to rewrite, especially because IE is free. On the other hand, browsers like Opera have a free rein to start from scratch.

As for Chrome, I don't know that it has such a massive advantage over other browsers that people would be compelled to switch. One thing I would like would be dynamic styles, where if someone had stupidly designed their page with white text on a black background, or had used very small text, I could change the colour or size to what I wanted.

DoubleWahala · Sep 9, 2008 , 04:43 AM

A far more realistic take (in my opinion) on Chrome....minus all the unwarranted (and, quite frankly, disinformative) hype.

DW

Chrome-fed Googasm bares tech pundit futility

Source

Last week, Google released a web browser called Chrome, and the online tech media had a powerful Googasm. We were long overdue for another climax like this, having been lightly stimulated with half-baked Google web products in the four years since GMail was released.

Every time the media fires off its gravy so violently, it highlights how little some of the supposed "experts" actually know about computers. Case in point: People saying that Google Chrome is an operating system designed to compete head-to-head with Microsoft Windows.

I understand the argument that as web applications proliferate, the desktop operating system becomes less important, and emphasis is placed on the browser. That's all well and good, but let's be realistic here. It's a friggin' web browser. It runs JavaScript a bit faster than other web browsers. That doesn't add up to a Windows killer.

Users aren't going to decide which computer to buy based on which browser comes pre-installed, and even if they do, I'm going to guess that they will choose Internet Explorer (or - as it is known commonly in user parlance - "the blue internet that opens my web sites"). In any case, a browser is still going to need a proper operating system to run, and that operating system will almost always be Windows.

Given the thousands of Windows applications that are grandfathered in to many IT systems, the video games that are just a touch too GPU-intensive to run in JavaScript, and general user comfort with Windows, it's hard to imagine a world where everything (and I mean everything) is done in a browser. Oh, and let's not forget all your browser-based apps being ad-supported.

Of course, none of this will stop the tech media from cooking the story they've wanted for decades

Silicon Valley Insiders?

When journalists jump on a story like this, they will publish just about anything, no matter how poorly thought out. Let's take, for example, Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider. He says:

[Google is] building the equivalent to Windows in the cloud-computing world.

Too bad the SEC can't ban this guy from the tech industry for life.

People are calling Chrome a cloud operating system because it is a "platform for running web apps". It renders HTML and interprets Javascript, you know, like every friggin' browser made since 1995. It's also got Google Gears built in. Great. I'll alert Tim Berners-Lee.

This bullshit is a common theme when talking about Chrome. Those who realize that Chrome is not a full fledged operating system but still want to get in on the page-view party are calling Chrome the cloud operating system. Get it, because it's like clouds. All nature and crap. Don't you want to read that story?

Well, at least Blodget sort of understands what it takes to run a web browser. I can't say the same for Michael Arrington, who runs the Special Olympics of tech media, TechCrunch. Arrington fancies himself a kingpin of Web 2.0, but when he starts saying crap like this, it's hard for him to keep the respect of people, who, you know, understand how computers work:

Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows.

Expect to see millions of web devices, even desktop web devices, in the coming years that completely strip out the Windows layer and use the browser as the only operating system the user needs.

In no way can this statement be construed to make sense, and I'm not just being a pedantic a-s-s-h-o-l-e here. Fortunately, El Reg readers are with it enough to know that you need a proper OS before you can have a browser. However, a significant number of the users you IT admins support are reading crap like this, and will be putting in support tickets to have Google Chrome OS installed on their computers as soon as possible, because they've had enough of Windows and are ready for a change.

Unfortunately it isn't just a few bad apples in the media pulling this stunt. If I had to list them all, I would have to take a .45 caliber aspirin.

Over the Top

What caused this orgy of failure? It's not unlike a World War I bloodbath. Soldiers are in the trenches, waiting for the whistle, when they see one of their brothers in arms leap out into no man's land and charge toward the enemy. Is it time to go? Did you miss the whistle? screw it, over the top! You jump out, and just before you're cut down by the machine gun fire, you see the other soldiers in the trench jumping out, and a befuddled commander wondering where everyone is going.

Word of Google's browser got out, and one person said "this is the new operating system". Other reporters, not wanting to be left out, turned the echo chamber up to 11. Typing words is easier than critical thought, after all. The blogosphere sprayed its shorts and Google is sitting there, holding its whistle, trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

Everyone was after the perfect story, whether or not it actually exists. Someone is finally bringing the battle to Microsoft's front door, and that someone is already a media darling. Google releasing a browser is so damned close to the ideal situation, but there's not quite enough to declare that Chrome will replace Windows. None the less, this does not stop the technically incompetent from spinning it as such. Maybe they were just feeling nostalgic about Microsoft pummeling the crap out of Netscape?

Anyway, not even Sergey Brin could stop the premature eGoogulation. At a press conference, Brin said:

"I would not call Chrome the operating system of Web apps..."

Dammit, Sergey. You're ruining my story!

As comedy would have it, word is that Brin is a Mac user. Considering Google hasn't released its browser for the Mac yet, he has to run Chrome in VMWare.

Operating system indeed.

katampe · Sep 9, 2008 , 06:02 AM

I am not in this for the argument, but a blissful surfing experience. Not scared to try new things, I am adventurous.

I will try it, even only for browsing. I know some of my work (that is a given) cannot be done without firefox and ie, but I might as well have a good browsing experience with opera.

I am downloading it, thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by dapxin

All these things have been embedded in opera for more than a year now. Imho, the Opera guys are the true innovateors of browser features over the last 7 years that I have used them.

- they brought in tabbed browsing since ver 5 or 6, and FF sold it as new feature.
- they brought in mouse gestures (which , if you ever tried ? You will never ever use the www without for the rest of your life ) and FF implemented it via a 3rd party plugin
- they brough in this one google are shouting as removable tabs ages ago.

- I could go on. Seriously the one undoing of Opera was the shambolic attempt to sell the product up until ver 8 but its been free ever since.

- Try its very latest editition here http://snapshot.opera.com/windows/o960s_10421m.exe and see things in perspective.

btw, IE is crap - I actually think the MS programmers are overpaid lazy lots.

Dapxin · Sep 9, 2008 , 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe

I' One thing I would like would be dynamic styles, where if someone had stupidly designed their page with white text on a black background, or had used very small text, I could change the colour or size to what I wanted.

At the risk of sounding like an Opera agent

it has this feature already.

It is not dynamic as on-the-fly but you will find it under VIEW >> STYLES.

like I said, if you have never used this one feature before - http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/mouse/ - please just try it now. Its enough killer imo.

And dont scream!

Shoko Loko Bangoshe · Sep 9, 2008 , 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by dapxin

At the risk of sounding like an Opera agent it has this feature already.

It is not dynamic as on-the-fly but you will find it under VIEW >> STYLES.

It's OK to be evangelical about what you're passionate about, as long as you don't rubbish what other people believe in too.

I think that view >> styles will let me specify my own stylesheet, but that's not quite what I was looking for. Even IE has the stylesheet selection feature. I am definitely looking for something more dynamic and on the fly.

Dapxin · Sep 9, 2008 , 05:01 PM

@Shoko, (funny name

reminds me of Choco-Milo: the one I used to steal back in time

I dont get what you are asking for - Is it not a way to redraw a page killing off elements or substituting with your own thing ?

@Katampe - Check this http://www.opera.com/support/tutoria.../coolfeatures/ out if you fancy the the jounery into opera indeed.

Userjs (the one FF calls greasemonkey??? scripts ) are also implemented by default - grab some cool ones here http://www.pallab.net/2007/05/03/top-13-userjs/

Shoko Loko Bangoshe · Sep 9, 2008 , 05:44 PM

Originally Posted by dapxin

I dont get what you are asking for - Is it not a way to redraw a page killing off elements or substituting with your own thing ?

Yes - but I'm looking for something more intuitive and direct that doesn't involve fiddling around with code files.

For example, I'd like to right click on some text, have a menu appear in which there's the menu item 'Change Colour', click on that item, have a colour box appear, select a colour, and voila - the text should change to the chosen colour.

Anike · Sep 15, 2008 , 01:28 AM

I know this is like the men's club, but... I am loving Google Chrome. The pros: 1) the way web addresses matching what is being typed in the address bar are auto-populated for users to choose from, 2) the auto spell check, 3) the neat layout 4) the speed 5) the customizable page set-up ((tools on top right > options > minor tweaks tab) or (right click on page > Inspect element > do what you want). I don't think the second option is the most user-friendly sha and I have not figured out how to use this approach to change my font type) ... . Cons: still haven't figured out where the pop-up blocker is.

MrsChocT · Sep 15, 2008 , 06:55 AM

It's FireFox for me, IE and the kids on the block haven't got a chance.

MyNaijaNews · Sep 18, 2008 , 09:46 PM

Remember the google search engine? Remember how simple and functional it is? Ok. You do not have to try and remember. You use it like, everyday? Google stuck to it's clean and simple interface, all the way, in Chrome. Do not try to install toolbars. Even google toolbar is not supported on Chrome. Huh?! Well, not yet. If you prefer looks to functionality, you'll be disappointed by Chrome's sparse design. It looks like the basic 'hello world' application. I, personally, will be interested in function, not looks. And Chrome does make Internet Explorer look overdressed. But toolbars are functional, you would say. And since you can't install toolbars in Chrome, how functional is the browser itself?

You can read full article at mynaijanews. add the dot com.

Ph3y · Sep 21, 2008 , 06:54 PM

I think firefox rocks...........I also love Avant.....I'm not a fan of Explorer [though Avant uses IE settings by default]

I've not used chrome yet but heard there's a vulnerability due to the default configuration that allows files to be downloaded without propmting the user. Also downloaded files can be opened with a single click which could lead a user to inadvertently open a malicious file.

The walk-around is to enable "Ask where to save each file before downloading" option within the "Minor Tweaks".....

Being unadventurous, I'll stick to my Avant for now.......