Since I spend most days in front of a computer screen, I am an early adapter to things online. So when I heard about Google Chrome launching yesterday, I downloaded it in the afternoon. I also uninstalled it two hours later.
It’s not that it isn’t good. It has plenty of merits. It’s a very simple screen format, although it took me some time to figure out where to locate my imported bookmarked sites. That part wasn’t as intuitive.
It wasn’t until I clicked on my e-mail marketing supplier’s Web site that it gave me problems. Like most new technologies, it takes time to become fully compatible with other programs. My e-newsletter software could not recognize it, and so, I had to revert back to my old IE7 to do my marketing homework.
That doesn’t mean I won’t give it another try. I heard a Google spokesperson interviewed on NPR radio yesterday and it sounds like this is the first browser entering the world of new media. I applaud their efforts.
Has anyone else tried it yet? What’s been your experience?
Hi Elaine…
I was a bit “behind in the times” since I only read about this new browser this morning. As a longtime Google disciple, my first instinct was to rush to my office and download it.
Then I had a second thought. This is new technology! Great for PR, but usually somewhat bad for consumers. Think: almost anything by Apple, Windows Vista, etc. In the rush for that much coveted media coverage, technology firms have notoriously rushed to market and dealt with the fallout later.
Your post validated my decision to stick with IE a bit longer.
I love Chrome so far, but am stilling using IE. I prefer it over Firefox b/c I had constant plugin failure with FF but no problems with Chrome thus far. I will have to learn to navigate it, but I’m willing to be patient with it b/c the shallow me loves the look of it and the practical me loves its speed.
I’ve been using Google Chrome since the release and have nothing but good things to say about it. It’s quick, simple and open source. The only draw back is it’s not available on the mac.
I find it buggy but I’m looking forward to the next version. There is a bug when it opens but I seem to be able to bypass it. It can’t handle many dynamic Flash forms…such as commenting on parts of Facebook or inserting spreadsheet lines in Google spreadsheets. I love the speed and the tab sheets but I usually keep FF open if I’m futzing in Chrome.
Chrome is a great improvement to the browser, but it has its bugs. Most annoying is trying to insert links into a Google spreadsheet.
I recommend running Chrome and Firefox simultaneously. Keep firefox as your browser of choice, but consider Chrome for a lot of your daily web surfing and reading. There is absolutely no obligation with installing Chrome — it doesn’t even set itself as the default browser upon installation.
We have a full review of Chrome at http://blog.sherpawebstudios.com/2008/09/03/google-chrome-review/
Not a big fan of IE here. I like projects like Firefox, Safari and now Google Chrome not because they are new or whizbang but because they conform to standards better. I’m a web developer so trying out and exploring stuff like this is important to me to stay in the know and of course make sure sites we design work with them.
Did you really need to uninstall it? Yes, it’s your decision but it seems like a hasty one. I used IE for years because I felt I had to but I’m so happy we have some viable alternatives some of which have thankfully spurred improvements in IE.
Remember this is the first public release and it’s in beta so it’s definitely not “officially finished.”
Chrome isn’t meant to be an alternative right now. Anyone who is downloading it are “testers” if they know it or not but I think it’s worth keeping on your system and playing with more.
Opera also has a very good browser but like Chrome can sometimes run into problems with web applications and web forms.
I’m still waiting for them to release the Mac version but I’ve used it sparingly on another computer and must say I was very impressed with it. The feature that combines all your tabs in one window is just great for me.
Thanks for the heads up re the email marketing provider. I found the same thing. I will still keep Chrome installed though as it’s on my VM (I have a Mac, and no support for Mac OS yet it seems.) Anyway, so far I haven’t found it any quicker or better than Firefox but perhaps it just takes some getting used to.
I tried it but found it lacking in features. Then it dawned on me the only reason Google created a browser was to gather information from users for advertising purposes. I’ll stick with FF.
Just wondering if anyone who downloaded this application actually read and considered the Terms of Use first?
Did you have any concerns about privacy or data security?
Google makes money by serving ads. Google delivers value to advertisers by allowing them to target ads very well. Google enables this targeting by collecting copious amounts of data about your use.
All of this goes double for anyone using the Google Desktop Search.
I am staying with FireFox until I hear of a compelling reason to switch to Chrome…
What is the “Purple Cow” with Chrome?
Thank you all for the comments.
Patrick, you may be right in my hastiness to uninstall Chrome. My challenge is its compatibility with the applications I use online. Perhaps, I’ll try using both browsers to see.
Paul and Mr. Anderson, I understand your skepticism about Google’s desire to capture data, but if I remember correctly, there is an installation prompt to check your agreement to this feature.
I just downloaded it, and I’m not sure what my total experience will be, the first site I went to (to check my web email), it just stalled out. I’m sympathetic though, since I’m willing to try any browser that attempts to provide a faster experience.
Let us know about your experience after using it a while, Allen. Give it a real whirl.
I, too, love “fast technology.” Since experiencing laptop problems eight months after purchase, I went out and bought a 6 gig RAM desktop with as high a processing speed as I could get for the money. So much has to do with the hardware in our browsing experience.
Some things to keep in mind with Chrome:
1. Chrome is not simply a browser. It is the first browser that is built to be a platform for applications that run on the web.
2. In the words of Google, “This is just the beginning — Google Chrome is far from done.”
One more thing…
Type “about:internets” into the Omnibox. One of, I’m guessing many, Easter eggs.
I downloaded it yesterday and although the few little videos they presented to “get started,” was supposed to be enlightening. They didn’t help me at all. I still haven’t found all my bookmarks, in fact only a few of them actually show up even after I did what the tutorial (I actually had to seek this out too) and still no bookmarks. I already had problems with my bookmarks when asked to sign in constantly to my gmail account every time I went to a new site, and now I can’t find them at all. But like anything you try, you try and try again until you decide you really don’t like it…then it gets dumped. So far, I really want to conquer this.
Jeff, now you are getting my attention. If they optimize this for apps that run on the Web then they have something.
I will wait until that aspect is ready for prime time.
I keep on hearing people throw the Terms and Use flag up. Have you read the terms and use for Firefox? For Internet Explorer? For every website you visit?
Rule of thumb is this: if you didn’t pay for it, you don’t get control over what data is passed/collected. And assume it’s a lot. That’s the “cost” of the free-economy with which we have become familiar.
I actually like Chrome. You’re right that a few things were counterintuitive, and on the first day I had problems loading a few sites, but I used the Report Bug or Broken Website function and by the next morning the bugs were fixed.
I had to try a second time to load my bookmarks but once they were loaded they work perfectly, and it even loaded the favorites I’d had in my toolbar before as a separate list.
It loads a lot of my common websites much faster than Firefox did (much less IE, which I consider to be the dark ages of browsers!). If you’re not comfortable being one of the bug-finders than by all means wait it out, but don’t forget to try it again eventually.
My IT friends/colleagues really like it for its capabilities for recognizing complicated programming (I hear there’s a ‘test’ site made entirely in C++ and Chrome reads it beautifully, even better than Firefox which of course everyone used to consider the Holy Grail.)
Why does it load sites faster?
It is simply better caching somehow or something else?
I can’t see what could be done to improve something basic like caching so I am intrigued. Worth looking into.
BTW, there was an outcry about the terms of service so Google did respond and removed the offending Section 11:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/update-to-google-chromes-terms-of.html
It applies retroactively to those who downloaded previously. They say it was an oversight because they copied the offending passage from sort of boiler plate TOS from somewhere else.
Slightly odd but I have to give Google some credit for responding quickly to user concerns. The early adopters are likely to mostly be developers and the like who are especially sensitive to these sorts of issues.
What technical people are using today, others will be using tomorrow. I am surprised they do not have a Mac and Linux version out fast to have the developers and the Open Source community behind them right from the start.
Not the best roll out I have seen from Google but they will get there with this Chrome.
Thank you all for sharing your observations and experience with Chrome. I think I’ll give it another try.
What has to be changed so that this browser is recognized by other sites, especially ones that have app software used by consumers?
I work across three different operating systems on a daily basis, and not simply running Parallels on the Mac (although I do that, too). I do this to test how technology works within the three different “major” options: Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.
As noted, there is not a Google Chrome for Mac users. We’re going to have to wait, but we can be almost certain that once it happens, it’ll be a better experience than the Windows Vista experience.
Windows XP showed relatively few problems. Anywhere that required Flash seemed sluggish, but did not create too many problems; unless you had multiple tabs with Flash or media (CNN’s own video player, YouTube, etc.) open at the same time.
Windows Vista continues to live up to its reputation, though. In under 10 minutes, I managed to acquire 3 browser crashes, 11 failed pages, and the multi-media pages were next to impossible to load. Oddly enough, I encountered many load errors and exceptionally slow loading time for Google’s own pages: Gmail and even the basic Google search.
This is a beta release. It has been developed in-house and tested, but Google is putting this out for broad testing by the general users. This is an ever-increasing strategy by software developers: use the public sandbox to get name recognition immediately, rather than take a delay by perfecting it and put something nice and clean.
Thanks for weighing in, Sam. At least new adapters know in advance that it’s a BETA version, so it’s “downloader beware” until the bugs are worked out.
John, why in the world did they not get a Mac version out? If you are going to beta test something like this for early adopters.
there are so many advantages and features with Chrome, such as it’s speed, for example; now if only they would take care it’s quirky cookie management…
I tried it and un-installed it a few hours later too, some sites don’t show up the way they’re supposed to , i guess developers have to worry about one more browser now
fast, simple, Google powered search, built in chat, little ads, and if using firefox there are many add-ons to cusomize gmail..