Google Chrome - A new web browser

Anyway seems to me that a lot of people use google search and maps, so it seems that a google browser makes sense.

Download link: www.google.com/chrome (won't work until tomorrow)

Google's own announcement: A fresh take on the browser

Plus a comic book sketch with further details.

Where can I buy Google Pizza to eat whilst surfing on their browser?

This sounds like the answer to all the problems I've been having with Firefox. I hope it lives up to it's promise.

I'll have to install it for testing at work, but I hope they make it a standalone item and not force other google apps on you at the sametime

Great.. one more browser to test.. I hope this dies a quick death.. they should have just put their efforts into making Firefox better.

According to the comic strip, they rebuilt the browser from the ground up to work with today's web with all it's applications. It makes a lot of sense. I'm sick of how slow Firefox is. Apparently, they've solved all those problems. I want it now.

Sounds very sweet indeed. Now I hope they build their own OS.

It's all open source too, so Firefox can rebuild itself if it wants. I'm really looking forward to all the promised speed and security.

I am getting a bit bored with the "open source" bandwagon. Nobody is ever going to bother mucking about in the source code, unless they are a bored developer, and then all they'll do is make some utterly useless bit of functionality along then lines of all the crap on facebook. I don't want to play scrabble. Ever.

apparently the guys who programmed Google Earth are about to launch the beta versions of Google Wind and Google Fire

Google are currently pushing the concept of web applications and cloud computing. This could be seen as an admission that it doesn't really work and what you need is a specialist client application. But that is not how the web 2.0 is supposed to work so lets call it a browser.

Yes, that would be fucking ace. Yet another variation. That would make Microsoft absolutely delighted as the momentum to create one platform to challenge their offering would be split again. Although Google has a nice fluffy image they, like all billion dollar companies, can be a bunch of shits when it suits them so in the end they'd just be another Microsoft. I'd be happier if they just concentrated on supporting their decent applications, like Sketchup, better on Linux and Mac OSX.

They already have an OS. I take it you haven't heard of Google Android.. Running on the HTC Dream AKA: G-Phone, which will be sold by T-mobile.

Oh, that thing for mobile devices. Not so worried about that as nobody is dominant like Microsoft in that market and it's much tougher than many appreciate at first look so I imagine the competition will be good. I was mainly thinking of desktop operating systems and we already have enough of those.

Symbian (now owner by Nokia) is very dominant. Although promising to be open in the future.

You are clearly someone who has never seen a popular software die only because some guys in management thought they could do better business without it.

Last I heard from Symbian was it was used by those manufacturers who were forced into producing a few mobiles a year because of old agreements but that it was far from a small screen Windows form of domination. Nokia only ended up holding the baby as all its other parents walked away. Last time I had to work with Symbian it was also shit on the inside.

Don't know when the Wiki page was last updated but it states the below.. Time for 2008 Stats.. - Lots of other info avail too

I would also like to see the privacy elements of Chrome. Assuming the browser is there to support Google's advertising business (which is their core business - not writing software apps) it could now be sending back your individual keystrokes to Google, not just your browsing habits. Chrome could be something of the Trojan Horse.

I looked at comic book thing, but got bored and skipped through it - so if it did include a section on not passing browsing history back to people like DoubleClick then please correct me.

And on Open Source "popular software" - I do not think the Guys in in Engineering are the best decision makers on product roadmaps - leave that to the management; Boys, you're not paid to think. Listen to engineering all the time and we typically end up with a great solution to a problem no one has.

And on a last note, what about poor old Firefox! They sold their souls to Google and now they've dumped them. The reason the browser is even worse than IE7 is that Google were dictating what it would and wouldn't do (behind the scenes).

Well that at least that explains Vista.

This is, without doubt the business justification within Google to produce Chrome. Every application they produce is there to collect your data for use for or against you, now or in the future. They have some well written and useful applications, but you should always bear their motivation in mind when using them, and use them carefully. Chrome is sure to pull you closer to their application world - web browsing will be secondary function.

All this talk of an OS by google is missing the point - the browser is becoming what users see as the OS. Microsoft sorta had a vaguely correct idea when they went down their ultimately doomed active desktop route, but the idea that your "desktop" wil in fact be more or less a webpage is what google know, and are gunning for.

I don't really care if companies want to make a load of different browser software, but I'd be so much happier if they could all agree on a set of bloody standards first. Transparency is not supported on 24 bit png files in IE, but is elsewhere; shit ALWAYS renders differently depending on what IDE you used; people start producing "frameworks" and plugins which are no bloody different from the days of activeX controls really... it is all a nightmare. For all this talk of "web 2.0" and the way the future will all be about multimedia, we are still massively reliant on whether there is a flash plugin for our browser of choice, whatever the fuck it may be. Madness. Now there is silverlight too. Oh great.

The whole tech side of the internet should be given to the porn companies. They have always been market leaders in everthing on the net.

Anyway, back to Chrome. It's already available now from the download link.

First impressions? Very quick, but lacking quite a few features compared to Firefox 3.

For the past hour that I've been trying it out I found it's not too bad.

It's missing decent RSS support though, and that's kind of a deal breaker for me.

Am using Chrome too. Really like it.

I have just downloaded Google Chrome. Kinda freaks me out that they can transfer all me favourites I had on Firefox - like how do they know?

I sometimes play bridge at Yahoo yet cannot enter the lounge with GC - something to do with plugins. Anyone any idea? Maybe something to do with Java.

Also, I have just noticed, all my words are underlined, I bet the feckers think I am German and therefore should be typing in German = misspellings.

(forgive me if there are any ..i reelly do need my spel chek)

Orla inka, you can change the settings for spell check (and for the language of the browser) in the settings. I did that to have my spell check & browser set to English.

As for your bookmarks, they are all saved in a file (bookmarks.htm or so) in the Firefox folder. IE and FF do this too (transfer bookmarks) when you first install them.

I am using Chrome right now... I really like it so far, seems quicker than FF3 too. I do like FF3 but it sometimes freezes up for some reason (to do with flash or videos I believe, it often happens on sites that have youtube videos embedded), and that's annoying (as it's usually not just for a few seconds either).

Is there any way to add a search engine bar to this browser? I used to have several search engines on my FF that I now miss (Amazon, LEO, etc.) - I'd prefer to have them added as search engines than as bookmarks as I have no more space in the bookmark bar but would like them easily accessible.

You just put the search engine name eg amazon and then use tab, then it searches using amazon search engine. The address bar and search are integrated as you must have figured

I did, just didn't figure out how to use a different search engine than the default one. And I don't quite understand your instructions, what exactly do I do?

Edit: Oh nevermind. I figured it out. I was thinking the wrong tab. Thanks.

That incognito window option will be especially useful for the married men who want to watch porn without their wives knowing.

I find the interface less crowded with icons and options which is nice on one hand. On the other, I'm not sure where to click for anything!

So far, so good. It is fast. It will take a little getting used to, finding the options and all, but I haven't searched more than a minute or two for anything yet.

Not impressed so far. It doesn't even seem to be able to open Gmail properly.

Trying out chrome. Looks faster than FF.

Yep, that's exactly what it's for. It was funny reading their comic book yesterday, where they claim that you might need this window to buy a present for your wife without her finding out about it. But it's clearly for surfing porn, and they know that as well as everyone else.

Anyone visiting the darker corners of the web from a Windows machine is just asking for the entire world to find out not only what sites they visit but their bank details, gender, sexual orientation, religion and everything else. The wife discovering you're good at one handed surfing is the least of your worries.

That's not worrying at all. Your favourites are stored in plain text on your disk. What is concerning is that it can also import your passwords from IE. That's dodgy shit (on IE's part).

What is also dodgy shit is Chrome's end user license agreement (that you must agree to before running it) which states:


I won't be using this browser.

Hutcho - passwords are also imported from Firefox, so it's not just IE.

Had a qucik look. Did not seem faster (other have said it is for some sites) - in fact was screwing up some sites. But I can't see the upside over IE or FF. Single processes for tabs is good, but so what...

I haven't noticed any speed difference for Chrome. What annoys the HELL out of me, though, is that I can't scroll up...only down.

It appears to be a fairly widespread problem with chrome after a lil google search. Until they fix that, I can't even consider switching.

Where on earth did you find that quote? I take it from the T&C and it means that everything you view or upload using their browser is theirs? Jesus...

I took it from the Chrome EULA. See here:

http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

People have to stop thinking that Google are nice and that they are trustworthy. The are a corporation and will do whatever makes them the most money.

At the moment, there is no other company on the internet that knows more about you than Google. If they wanted to (and they do), they could easily put together a fairly complete list of all the websites that you visited today (due to them having their analytics running on almost every webpage on the internet, including this one). Sign into one of their services, like Gmail or picasaweb, then they know your email and name, and maybe even address and can associate this with all the websites you've visited.

Them having their own browser is only going to help them in this quest.

Google backtracks on Chrome license terms

This is the section that Hutcho was quoted that is being changed. Google said the change will apply retroactively to anyone who has downloaded the browser. It now just says "11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services."

There´s a new version available ... Picasa 3 (beta) with interesting features

Any sign of a Mac version?

I guess it's like all Google's offerings - Windoze first, keep the masses paying, think about all the fringes later in a random walk fashion.

i too have problems with gmail (it only works with the "basic html version"). Also any changes in the proxy in GC, is actually made to the settings in IE... . FF has plugins where i can have multiple proxy settings at the same time. and how to add the "google toobar"?? yeah, i have "gears" etc installed... no errors too when i try to "create appln shortcuts"... though ´nothing happens...

back to IE & FF for the time being...

That is quite remarkable that they can't get their own email service to work on their own browser. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence.