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Google Unveils Its New Browser: Google Chrome, Available for beta testing! |
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 Sep 2 2008, 02:30 PM
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Firefox's personal PR Dude
Posts: 6,390
Joined: 1:00pm January 4, 2005
Location: Seafaring on the S.S. Silver Inklish
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Big news! Google has unveiled today a new web browser, which will be in direct competition with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and the other browsers already out there on the market. Its name is Chrome.
It is available right now to download and test-drive in the beta form right here.
Read about its new and innovative features here.
Read about the technological innovations that went into creating it here (in comic book form!).
And finally, watch a video documenting the creation and thought processes behind the product right here.
Here are some questions to get you all thinking:
--> What are your first impressions?
--> What new features, technologies, improvements, or capabilities do you like the most?
--> Do you see yourself using it?
--> Do you see it replacing your existing browser?
--> Do you see this as a viable "IE killer" or "Firefox killer" or "Safari killer" or "Opera killer" ?
--> Where do you see Google going with this project in the future?
--> What would you like to see Chrome do that it doesn't currently do?
I just about squeed myself when I found out--that's how nerdily happy I was 
--Nick
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Sep 2 2008, 05:08 PM
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Leaky's Youngest Elf
Posts: 6,882
Joined: 5:12pm July 5, 2006
Location: in a pool
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*goes to download*
It sounds cool! I need to test it out for myself and then I'll reply to your Q's
ETA: So far I'm not that for it. I don't really care for the layout much, it reminds me of IE. And the scrolling isn't as smooth as FF is. But the search feature is cool.
This post has been edited by JeffHpFan: Sep 2 2008, 05:22 PM
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Sep 3 2008, 05:12 AM
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Keeper of the Keys
Posts: 2,084
Joined: 8:45am April 19, 2006
Location: Going to Knockturn Alley to get Holy Grain eating Weevil Repellant
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OK I downloaded Chrome and am now posting using this browser 
--> What are your first impressions?
Overall, a very compact and simple browser to use. Somewhat reminiscent of Firefox; making transition to it easy. Installation was relatively painless, although the initial file downloaded was not the full package and you have to connect to the internet to download the rest afterwards.
--> What new features, technologies, improvements, or capabilities do you like the most?
I like the look and feel and the thumbnail startup page
--> Do you see yourself using it?
Well, yes and no. Its a novelty thing at the moment, but for my purposes it doesn't add anything i cant get in the form of a Firefox plugin or don't really need; and does not have Silverlight support which is something I need for may day to day work.
--> Do you see it replacing your existing browser?
Not until it gets Silverlight support. Unfortunately my browser usage is dictated by my work needs.
--> Do you see this as a viable "IE killer" or "Firefox killer" or "Safari killer" or "Opera killer" ?
I don't think so. Although this is still a beta; nothing I have seen totally blows the other browsers out of the water. To be fair though, to expect something truly earth shatteringly incredible is a lot to ask as in the end a browser is there to interperet web documents so IDEALLY they should all look the same regardless of browser. Where one will outshine the other is in the world of ease of use and there it becomes less objective and more subjective; i.e. personal preference will play a big role.
--> Where do you see Google going with this project in the future?
The fun thing about Google is you never know what they'll think of next. I suppose we may even see a Google OS some time in the future...
--> What would you like to see Chrome do that it doesn't currently do?
I like my search tab at hand with multiple search engine options. Its not there in the default setup; and the bookmarks dissapear as soon as you browse away from the startup page. Those two functions are what I use most in my browsing and to lose them is an inconvenience to say the least.
Also it seems to pick up spelling errors but does not offer any alternative spellings - something I also use alot but couldn't with this post as you may notice from the large ammount of spelling errors  This may, however just be a bug in the beta.
All in all:
Not bad, but going too far down the minimalistic route for my tastes.
This post has been edited by Rudius Hagrid: Sep 3 2008, 05:14 AM
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 Sep 3 2008, 06:52 PM
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Newest Housekeeper at The Leaky Cauldron
Posts: 745
Joined: 4:31am June 18, 2007
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Google has released its own open source internet browser.
You can get it here:
http://www.google.com/chrome
Mirror:
http://filehippo.com/download_google_chrome/
Screenshot:
Features:
-Everything in one box. Searching, Address bar, history.
-New Tab Page. Has frequently visited web pages, recently opened and closed bookmarks.
-Web App Shortcuts. Create Web App shortcuts on your desktop, that you can open without using the browser.
-Dynamic Tabs. Animated Tabs. Drag them around or pull them out into windows.
-Crash control. If one tab crashes, your whole browser does not crash. Just that one tab.
-Incognito mode. Privacy mode. No traces are left on computer.
-Safe browsing. Warns you when visited phishing sites and/or malware sites.
-Instant bookmarks. Click the star when on a website to instantly add it to your bookmarks bar.
-Import settings. You can import bookmarks and settings from other browsers.
-Simple Downloads. No separate windows for downloading.
Personally, I find it much more responsive than FF. It seems to start-up faster, and I can switch tabs faster. It appears to use less memory and processor power than FF on my computer, though don't take my word for that. Try it out yourself and see if your computer doesn't struggle as much. It took a little while to get used to the location of the bookmarks and the new tab button, but soon I was surfing as fast as I did in FF.
I highly recommend people try this, especially if you have a mediocre computer.
Remember this is a beta too. It is going to keep getting better and better.
This post has been edited by Tiby: Sep 3 2008, 07:35 PM
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Sep 3 2008, 08:14 PM
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Firefox's personal PR Dude
Posts: 6,390
Joined: 1:00pm January 4, 2005
Location: Seafaring on the S.S. Silver Inklish
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I just merged another thread about Google Chrome into this one. 
--NickTLC
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Sep 3 2008, 08:41 PM
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Newest Housekeeper at The Leaky Cauldron
Posts: 745
Joined: 4:31am June 18, 2007
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Things I like about it compared to Firefox:
Start-up time is shorter for me on XP.
Responsive.
Smoothly animated tabs.
Minimalist design. Feels clean.
Has more webpage screen real-estate.
Thinks I don't like about it compared to Firefox.
I can't seem to access my bookmarks without opening a new tab.
I can't use all the extensions I use in Firefox- yet.
No Smooth Mouse wheel.
Not many customization options.
I definitely see this as being a threat to other broswers for a couple of reasons.
-Geeks love Google. Nearly every geek I know loves them and/or wants to work for them.
-Geeks care about stability. Geeks are the ones who push browsers to the limit, so they want a browser that won't hang to crash when they have a gazzilion things going on in their browsers.
-Geeks care about performance. Geeks have the need. The need for speed! A geek will switch to another browser if it is fast- even if it has the same features of another browser.
I am seeing myself using it right now lol. I plan to use it for a week before I make a decision of whether to switch back to Firefox and wait for Chrome to get out of beta, or keep on using it.
What I'd like to see, is something I have always wanted in a browser. I think it would be great if elements on a page faded quickly into view, instead of just snapping up one by one.
Also, since Chrome makes each tab into its own process, if you have a multi-core processor (which you most likely do), you will be able to have more tabs open and still keep the speed you need.
btw, try typing "about:internets" in Chrome.
This post has been edited by Tiby: Sep 3 2008, 09:53 PM
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Sep 3 2008, 10:37 PM
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Firefox's personal PR Dude
Posts: 6,390
Joined: 1:00pm January 4, 2005
Location: Seafaring on the S.S. Silver Inklish
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One new feature that's underrated right now is the ability to make application shortcuts out of sites. I've removed Microsoft Office from my computer entirely and am now using Google Docs exclusively for my office-y needs. Having a shortcut to it in my start bar, quick launch, and/or desktop means that essentially, Google Docs is as easily accessed as Microsoft Office ever was, and therefore the line has been blurred between applications that exist on our computers and applications that exist in the "cloud" for good.
Huge blow to Microsoft with that, since a massive reason why people don't switch to new programs is that they don't want to bother installing a new program, or are afraid of installing it for security reasons. This now eliminates that barrier. Computer builders can essentially bundle Google products (Docs, Picasa, Gmail, Calendar, and others) into a brand new computer, using Chrome's application shortcuts, and it's free beer, unlike Microsoft Office.
Kinda revolutionary if you think about it... 
--Nick
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