Google releasing Chrome browser sometime today

[MyNameGoesHere]

http://www.google.com/chrome

Should only be in beta for about 10 years.

[lpbk2713]

1. Dead link.

Did they change their minds already? :shrug:

[MyNameGoesHere]

2. Not dead. Will be active when they are ready

http://www.freechromethemes.com/DownloadGoogleChrome.php

Try that link.

[CabalPowered]

3. It's up

I like it so far. DU appears to load just a tad faster. I think they may have tweaked how the browser handles sites with Google Analytics code.

On edit: Installs GoogleUpdate as a startup service.. Booo! :thumbsdown:

[hunter]

4. It's up for me.

It's interesting how they've set up the installer:

The setup.exe you get isn't chrome, it's program for downloading chrome.

[hunter]

5. Ooooooo.... shiny!!!

http://www.google.com/chrome

:applause:

[DaveJ]

6. I wasn't optimistic but I like it...

I'm one of those guys who think there's nothing wrong with just IE, but somehow Chrome is able to pack every feature that I like in Firefox and IE combined, and still maintain a very simple look.

I have every reason to hate Google for the way they decided to make money (not the direction I would go), but they continue to develop outstanding free software products.

[RC]

7. I am not impressed.

Quick, yes. What else doe it have going for it? I'll keep it around, maybe, to check the web sites I maintain.

It is little things like not changing the color of links I have visited and no way that I can see to fix that. The Options are limited. The spell check on DU has bombed out several times.

In other words it is too limited to be a decent web browser.

[DaveJ]

8. My links change color

Even without checking it's hard to believe that such a basic thing would be left out.

I agree that the spell check lacks though, I just assumed it would be fixed. It's day one after all.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Me either ...

I'll give it a pass for being a Beta, but I'll add that Firefox .6 impressed me enough to commit to a switch to it from Netscape. The point there is that this doesn't offer enough of an improvement in anything I consider important to make me want to change.

And I need it to be extensible in a way that is not tied to network connectivity. The installer gives me pause.

Some speculation follows:

Of course I don't think that's Google's point at the moment, inspiring people like me to change. They're going after Microsoft mostly while adding to their own brand.

The purpose here, based on parsing their own "why did we do this?" comments, seems to be to facilitate better interaction between browser and their web apps. They need that. The java rendering is a big part of this as is the tab isolation. They've adopted these ideas from Mozilla. The next version of FF has improvements in java execution that are noticeable to the eye.

Because of my interpretation of their purpose, I opened up some google docs, and I'll admit their spreadsheet and word processor apps appear to run much better in Chrome than in either Firefox or IE. Those apps themselves will have to go some before I really care though. I am highly biased against web-based apps, having had them forced upon me in the workplace and experienced what happens when simple hiccups in network connectivity brings your operation to a screeching halt, creating the kind of chaos that keeps antacid companies in business. Both the Word and Excel clones are grossly inefficient and bizarrely quirky. The one thing that drew me to them in the first place, real-time collaboration across a network, can be a severe PITA that actually inspires me to want to boot Windows and just use Word. (Yes, I said that.) I love the idea. The implementation needs a lot of work.

I think perhaps Chrome is a step in the direction of a better implementation, but if using this browser becomes a de facto requirement for using their various apps efficiently, they won't have succeeded in doing anything for the users themselves but offering yet another alternative to Office, which is fine. However, I'd prefer they focus on making those apps work better in all browsers.

[hunter]

10. The links don't change colors in incognito mode.

That makes sense.

And mine is doing spell checking on the fly, which means a little less load on DU's server.

I couldn't get DU's spell check to bomb out either, and it runs much faster than it does in FireFox.

Which options are you missing?

My main browser is Opera and I've customized it quite a bit so far as font selections and toolbars go. Surprisingly Chrome started up pretty close to the way I have Opera set up.

Chrome is fast. Now I'm waiting to see what happens when I crash a tab. It will be nice to have a browser that doesn't get all locked up when it comes across something it can't swallow. I've had to kill both Opera and Firefox on occasion when they choke on something.

I don't really know how Internet Explorer behaves in general use. I only keep it around to see what my web stuff looks like through Microsoft lenses.