Google Chrome

What Google calls ‘a new version of the browser’

Google spent a lot of time building an Explorer web browser that killed the one they called Chrome. Google Chrome allows users to browse, search, chat, email and collaborate much more in a browser that is faster than any of the others I use. I use Firefox for the plugins, Opera when I want to browse because it doesn’t have the plugins so it’s faster, Flock, Safari and Explorer as test browsers for the sites I work on (all browsers have to work!)

I was hoping Google would buy Firefox, but it’s probably too open source for them. To compete against MS, the product must remain more under its control. Google is a fan of gadgets, so I expect there will be quite a few gadgets in the near future. Google used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, and this ends up being open source, but Google open source instead of Mozilla open source. It’s important to see the difference, as Google can change the core of their app and not worry about everyone from Mozilla having to buy. Smart move, I say.

new features

When you open a new tab in Chrome you have some interesting options. You have the 9 most visited sites in the main part of the window, on the right is a search bar, a list of your recent bookmarks, and a list of recently closed tabs. More or less the things you would need or want to have access to.

There’s also a little link at the bottom left that shows your full history, so you really have access to anything you’ve been working on recently. Site history does not open in a small sidebar, it opens in the full page. There is also a search function for your history. This is a huge improvement over the other browsers.

There’s also a full list of Chrome features, each with a 30-second video, on the Google Chrome site.

Since we spend so much time online, we started thinking seriously about what kind of browser could exist if it started from scratch and built on the best things out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mostly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and apps, and that’s what Google set out to build.

In theory, each tab works as a separate browser. If one tab fails, the others don’t. At least this is what they say, I haven’t had a lock yet to let them know it works.

Google claims there is “improved speed and responsiveness across the board”. I find this an understatement. This is the fastest browser on the internet today. They also say they created V8, a more powerful JavaScript engine, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers. This seems true to me, and only time will tell.

One thing I don’t like

There’s always something. I like to click download and ignore the files. In Chrome, the download appears at the bottom of your browser window and you can then run it, drag it to your desktop, or save it to a folder. I know this sounds smarter than what I’m doing right now, but old habits die hard.

This is just the beginning: Google Chrome is far from over. There is a beta version for Windows and they are building versions for Mac and Linux.

Google only gets better, with every tool it has created. Firefox, Opera and IE can all bear to have a powerful new browser to compete against. Maybe FF will crash less and IE will finally become more than just a memory hog. I still use FF, but I think Opera will just sit next to Safari for testing. (IE isn’t in the trash yet because it comes installed on many PCs.)

Google Chrome is a great option for fast browsing if you can live without all those add-ons you’ve grown accustomed to. Recently I was just using Opera and opening FF just to use a plugin. this may sound silly, but i work much faster this way. Like I said, Opera is on its way to retirement for me.

The best test of Google Chrome is to try it yourself.