Fellow Snagsta co-founder and developer extraordinaire Paul Stancer has been staying with me this week. I don’t get to see him much as I live in central London whereas Paul lives in a remote cave in one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands.
At about 7.30 the other morning I stumbled in to him at the breakfast table and saw he was having a play around with Google’s new browser Chrome. We wanted to see if the private beta version of Snagsta worked on it and we were glad to see it did (we would have been pretty shafted if it didn’t).
Later that day I read a review about it from Nick Carr on RoughType via Nic Brisbourne’s Equity Kicker blog.
I’ve just had a test drive and have also read up on some more of its features. Here are a list of eight things I like about it and why it could be better than the latest versions of both IE and Firefox:
1. More stability
Google implies that Chrome is more stable than existing browsers. A major selling point for me. As their little Google’s comic book puts it, “When you’re writing an important email or editing a document a browser crash is a big deal”.
2. More speed
Google claim that sites will download quicker on Chrome; this appears to have something to do with Chrome’s JavaScript Virtual Machine named V8. Google state that Chrome looks at the JavaScript source code and “generates machine code that can run directly on the CPU that’s running the browser”, this apparently helps speed things up.
Brendan Eich (the founder of Mozilla CTO and JavaScript creator) claims a new Firefox’s new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine outperforms V8 so this particular claim is hard to verify.
3. More secure
I like how they have built Chrome using a sandboxing technique that prevents unwanted software installing itself on your machine and stops what happens on one tab affecting what happens on another.
4. More open
Google have decided to open source the entire browser. This could be of huge benefit to the web community. Yes, I know Google has more money than God so they can afford to do this but they deserve a pat on the back for doing this.
5. More style
Google definitely lacks Apple’s style but what they’ve build here looks really slick. I’m a big fan of the smooth and uncluttered look and feel.
6. A dynamic start page
Chrome have done away with the traditional start page approach used by other browsers to display your 9 most visited pages when you boot it up.
7. More Privacy
Google have included an “Incognito window” in this build. None of your history is saved in the browser when you use this window and when you close it the cookies from that session are wiped out.
8. Better approach to blocking pop ups
Pop ups are confined to stay in the tab they came from unless you want to drag them out in to a new tab. I just tested this out on one of my favourite music sites and it works like a treat.
Nice job Sergey and Larry.
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10 September 2008 at 6:15 pm |
Hey guys – hope things are going well with Snagsta! Anyway, I gotta chime in about Chrome. I’m not sure if I’m the only person that’s had a terrible time with the browser, but I’ve had issues with every aspect of it. Slow, crashing, buggy, etc. I’m just surprised Google released something that didn’t fully work – even as a beta (I never had problems with GMail – and that’s still in beta).
Check out the blog for my Chrome Sucks article….
http://www.mylifestartingup.com/2008/09/google-chrome-sucks-for-real.html
11 September 2008 at 1:42 pm |
Here’s a few reasons why Firefox is better than Chrome:
- More secure
It has been troughoutly testes and has dozens of security related extensions (NoScript and CS Lite are great).
- Faster
It’s a bit slower on javascript but way faster in every other camp.
- Lighter
Uses less memory, generally speaking.
- More features
Supports RSS feeds, for starters, and has loads of extensions for you to put in the features you want.
- More customizable
Lets you customize everything easily.
- Easier to use
Has better User interface and is generally easier to use.
- 100 more reasons or so.
11 September 2008 at 2:15 pm |
Hi Tiago,
Thanks for the excellent list and for adding some fuel to the debate. Perhaps we should turn your comments in to a list we can use on next week’s post and feature as a special list on Snagsta?
Alex
2 November 2008 at 2:47 pm |
Ugh, U GUYS IT’S BETA
19 January 2009 at 5:33 pm |
I also have one more reason. You can switch between new tab and new window by “ripping” the tab of the bar.
And also, you can resize the textboxes.
13 September 2009 at 5:53 am |
@ Eduardo and Marc. “Beta” is Google’s little safety flag they use as an all to familiar “no guarantee” tactic. They’ve done this for years. Makes them less accountable for issues with their products (not that they don’t make great ones). =P
24 September 2009 at 8:42 am |
i was a big fan of firefox but when chrome came out i forgot about FF.
for me chrome is faster and the omnibar is genius. now i really dont see why should be two bars, one for addresses and one for the search engine.
i like chrome because it’s lighter, i used to have my FF full of add-ons which I realized i didn’t use as much i thought i did.
i don’t miss FF but i would take it back any day against IE.
to sum it up: i love the omnibar
24 September 2009 at 9:12 am |
Pffft,
Couldn’t agree with you more about the Omnibar. The single best thing about Chrome by far.
Alex
25 October 2009 at 9:51 am |
chrome better than firefox? its ones man opinion but hell no.i will never download google chrome and for one reason only.PRIVACY!you mention privacy as a chrome selling point but google dosent give a dam about your privacy.you mention ingognito mode.well firefox has that to but lets be honest.how many people surf in that mode all the time.hardly anyone i know.by default chrome installs two features that make me tell chrome to go to hell.1.a id number that is unique to you.it identifies the time and date installed on your pc.2.omnibox.its a key logger.google claims its done to make your searches easier.bull!!!!!!!!!!. it monitors your key strokes.dont you sheep get it?if any other software installs a key logger people freak and want it off.google can call it a fancy name but no matter how you cut it if it monitors key strokes then its a key logger.period.also google admits to saving some search historys indefinately.they say its only a small percentage but if you are stupid enough to believe that i have a bridge in arizona i will sell you.iron browser is as good as chrome but dosent spy on you.google chrome can go to hell along with big brother!
28 December 2009 at 10:25 am |
Eric’s claims, if true, are shocking. Can anyone verify this? I tend not to trust anyone who’s unable or unwilling to use proper capitalization and punctuation whose name isn’t e e cummings.
29 December 2009 at 9:36 am |
Hi Steve,
I agree, Eric’s comments have made me think twice too. The key logger comments are particularly worrying. Eric, do you have any links to back up your comments?
Alex
5 January 2010 at 1:53 am |
Actually, I was thinking about downloading Chrome. It seemed to work a bit faster but the key logger is a bit worrying. Someone please prove this. Just your word doesn’t mean it’s correct.
5 January 2010 at 7:09 am |
The guy’s a crackpot. None of the major sites/reviewers have noted anything about this imagined feature in Chrome. His silence should be taken as a retraction of his statement. He’s either in the employ of another browser or just plain nuts. I’ve been using Chrome for about a month now, and it’s superior to all the other browsers I’ve tried, especially as I’m currently based in Thailand, where even fast connections aren’t as fast as I’m used to. Don’t let his unsupported and unpunctuated comments dissuade you from getting an excellent and fast browser/
31 January 2010 at 10:10 pm |
Our team has been waiting on Google’s web browser’s extensions for months it seems … So far I have played with 8 plugins and am plesantly surprised with them. FF has started to slowed with use and the extensions are welcomed with open arms.
1 February 2010 at 9:35 pm |
Yes, what Eric (the other Eric) is saying is almost wholly incorrect. It is true that Google does, (anonymously) send a packet of your search in the omnibox, but this is only in order to give you search suggestions. (I figured rthis out by accident when messing with the about:network page and making a search) In fact, every major search engine already does this on their homepage, Google just decided to add it to their browser. In any case, it doesn’t matter, because you can disable by going to the The Wrench>Options>Under the Hood> then uncheck “Use a suggestion service…” but I don’t know why you would do that, because it is very useful. As for the ID number, he is probably lying because of the ambiguity of the statement.
4 February 2010 at 11:40 pm |
I don’t know where Eric-Dillian got his information, but the other Eric is 100% correct, though he could have expressed it better. Omnibox is a keylogger in the sense that it does intercept keystrokes and records them. You can turn it off and it only works in Chrome. Nevertheless, it IS a keylogger. Chrome also has a unique ID for every installation. It is found by going to Chrome> User Data> Local State ‘user experience metrics’ ‘client id’.
To Eric-Dillian, I suggest doing 5 minutes of research before responding to something.
5 February 2010 at 1:08 am |
Yes Jason, you are right about the client ID, I admit I wasn’t 100% sure about that. However, I gave proof of what the omnibox is, instead of just giving an opinion. I never said that other browsers do it, I said other SEARCH ENGINES do it, except they do it on their main site, instead of in the browser. It simply sends your searches to google so they can return search suggestions. Big deal. Go on any search engine, like yahoo, and it will do the same. I’m happy google made it easier by putting it in chrome. If thats your definition of a key logger, than either they arent as bad as they seem, or you should get off of the internet, because every site you go on is a “keylogger”.
5 February 2010 at 10:37 pm |
Also, Eric,(Or Jason or anyone else) can you please give me specific ways that this “clientID”, “keylogger”, or even chrome itself is a breach of security? I have read many sensationalist answers to this question, but the only one that I have seen substantiated is from Google themselves:
http://blog.chromium.org/2008/10/google-chrome-chromium-and-google.html