Google's open source browser "Chrome" LAUNCHED!

[scaR]

In a move that puts Internet Explorer at an even greater risk and may even stem the fury of Firefox, Google has finally sneaked us a look at it's long rumored Chrome.

It is based on the Webkit engine that runs Apple Safari and Google Android and a new V8 virtual Java machine.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20080901/chrome-intro_540x387.jpg (http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/)

[ source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10029914-2.html ]


UPDATE - Google Chrome has just been launched!
http://www.google.com/chrome/

[soldier]

"No official confirmation from Google yet, although Kara Swisher of All Things D cites sources (http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080901/google-ignites-a-new-browser-war-with-microsoft-by-unveiling-one-of-its-own/) who say that Google will make a Chrome download available to users by as early as tomorrow."

I await.

[!doomtack!]

They've done an excellent job here, by educating the public on what they've done on the browser.
as far as i can see, the security aspect seems to be shaping up into something worth its salt.
i can't wait to give this a try

[Paradoxxx]

Looks Great, can't wait for a release.

[Hidden]

Doh be late.

http://www.google.com/chrome

[Paradoxxx]

we be chroming!

[scaR]

Stable and fast, I just not used to it yet. So far no pages I regularly browse end up looking weird. Incognito mode is very cool. Basic well laid out design. I was hoping you could change the theme, but that's minor. Doesn't have a fullscreen F11 yet.

Very nice first showing by Google.

[Paradoxxx]

Seems great so far but I can't login at igoogle.com. Seems I have not lost any of the features I had in FF3 and gained a few.

[Pacmania]

so my blink connection this morning is moving at dial up speeds. on attemtping to reboot the tstt paradyne modem from within chrome only the right hand side of the page loads. the navigation links to the left are no where to be seen :confused:

maybe u guys with a paradyne router can confirm this as well.

[LARUTO]

Chrome looks good and works fine so far, will use it for my day to day work for the rest of the week then say what i really think

[kayode]

Love it.

It looks great, loads speedily, and is very unobtrusive.

For a barebones launch, it's great. Only drawback is that it isn't as physically configurable as I want it to be...I want to move my Bookmarks folder from the right to the left and slim down the whole bookmark bar, but either I'm doing something wrong, or it isn't an option.

Conversely, basically every little thing in Firefox that made it great to use is pre-loaded in Chrome.

I made it default and I'll test it for a week or two. I'm looking forward to whatever plug-ins or add-ons they eventually release.

[phoenix31tt]

does it have any of the 3:

1. gestures - being able to navigate between tabs or select options by moving your mouse in a certain way, or pressing certain keys (i.e. ctrl+left arrow = previous tab)

2. aliases - ability to type a word and a website loads (i.e i type tg in my address bar and www.trinigamers.com load)

3. roaming settings and favorites - where ever you go your settings and favorites follow (i.e. home, work, by the gf etc)

hadda have that before i install it...

and whats the best original feature so far btw?

[kayode]

For those of you who are missing the Firefox multi-search bar (like I was), the "omni-bar" arguably works even better. I was intimidated at first, but it's actually impressive.

Once you've searched at a site like Amazon.com, Chrome stores the search utility automatically.

So all you have to do is start typing Amazon in the bar, then press tab. The Search Amazon bar automatically pops up within the url bar. The trade-off is that you have to type a few letters of whatever site you want to search, but it feels smooth and natural, and you don't need to store and manage search engines manually, and it doesn't take up unnecessary space.

Also, for anyone who's annoyed by the way the browser opens up Favorites in the same tab (like I was), just right click the Favorite instead.

[Hidden]

Missing the mouse gestures as well.

[soldier]

It's the little things where Chrome both shines (no pun intended), and where it disappoints.

As an example of Chrome's "little things" problems, let's take the start page.
Showing your most commonly visited sites, a history search bar, recently visited bookmarks, and recently closed tabs is pretty neat and useful. But there is no way to clear it unles you wipe your whole history.

Another issue is the bookmarks bar. You can't click the middle mouse button ( usually the scroll wheel ) and it opens in a new tab. Instead you have to right click and then click open. This is slower and counter-intuitive to middle button opening tabs.

Chrome also hides printing in a drop down menu under a "page" icon, but we all know alot of people who WON'T be able to find it. The quality of the prints are on par with Firefox 3.0.1 - many pages print fine, but many still have problems with formatting.

Something about the way Chrome renders a page makes users log in serveral times to some sites.

Tabs as processes - great! But it has its drawbacks. When your machine is busy ( with alot of other tabs open , for example ), there can be a delay of switching between tabs. The delay isn't Chromes fault per se, but your busy machine switching between processes, which can get frustrating. Sometimes kicking off new processes and loading in a bunch of resources can slow down your computer in general.

The lack of options for how the browser behaves is startling. When you open a link in a new tab ,the tab appears next to its parent. What if you want it to open at the far end of your tabs instead? There's no option. The download bar is nice, but how can you set the browser to clear completed downloads and get rid of the download bar when they're all complete? There's no option.

What if you wanted to be warned about closing multiple tabs? There's no option. What if you want to leave Chrome open when you close the last tab, going back to the start page or a blank page? There's no option. There are no options to save your browsing history only for a certain number of days, whether to remember form data or not when you go forward/back between pages, and many other things we've become accustomed to customizing.

Finally, there is no Mac or Linux version ( poor doobs ). They are working on Mac and Linux versions.

Give google some time to work out the kinks and produce a Mac and Linux version you would be proud to run. Lets not bash them. The "browser" is still in beta and has a fair number of important issues to address.

[Source - http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2329401,00.asp] (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2329401,00.asp%5D)

[Pacmania]

Another issue is the bookmarks bar. You can't click the middle mouse button ( usually the scroll wheel ) and it opens in a new tab. Instead you have to right click and then click open. This is slower and counter-intuitive to middle button opening tabs.

I have no problems doing that what-so-ever. don't know whats their problem.

I am however struggling to keep using this browser over firefox. it does get very sluggish at times especially with sites that contain a lot of ajax code i think it is (facebook) or embedded video. this is such an annoyance i find myself having ff opened just for those sites in an attempt not to completely close off chrome and allow whatever data to be sent to google. trying to do my part to help them take over the internet :)

in google we trust :D

[Hidden]

For a first public release, job well done.

Surprisnly, chrome doesn't stick as much on FB as my firefox does.
I usually have to fire up IE to go on facebook...

[kayode]

Another issue is the bookmarks bar. You can't click the middle mouse button ( usually the scroll wheel ) and it opens in a new tab. Instead you have to right click and then click open. This is slower and counter-intuitive to middle button opening tabs.

Madness.
I do that both on the bar and in the Favorites menu itself. Ironically, that article link either isn't working on Chrome or has been moved.


I have encountered at least one serious issue with Chrome, though. If I open a lot of tabs at once with heavy pageloads, I get kicked right off my network and have to restart my machine. Don't know if this happened with Firefox as well, but it's strange. This also happens sometimes when I'm pulling a torrent full speed and I close utorrent without pausing the download first.

The browser still has a few issues to deal with, but so far I think I'm in for the long haul. It's surprised me how fast I've gotten used to the Omnibar.