AppAholic TechRant

Google’s slogan has always been, “Do no evil”, and I have to say, they’ve lived up to their slogan in the 3 years I’ve been a fan of their work. Their web applications have blown me away just as much as their desktop applications.  Of course, not many of you would believe me if I told you about my theory that Google are secretly just planning to take over the world. Trust me! In a couple of decades, Google will be amongst the World-Leaders in part of the International Government. I can’t wait for the television ads; “Search your Brain for your deepest and fondest memories! Coming soon!”. Meh.. I digress.

So, let’s talk about Google’s latest step towards global-domination; Google Chrome. That’s right, Google have decided that having most of the Internet at their beck-and-call isn’t enough anymore, they’ve released their own special Browser for you to use it with!

Of course, Google can’t just throw a browser out there which can be comparable to Firefox.. Right?! Well, it’s a matter of taste, actually…

I hate to say this, but when I installed this a couple of months ago – I never uninstalled it. It has remained, and will remain, my default browser from now on. Of course, some people are just unwilling to change their browser, but for Google I think I could seriously take a bullet (yeah it’s a pathetic existence..). The only real explanation I have is that I am, at heart, just a lame Google fanboy. I don’t mean to say, of course, that Chrome isn’t good. It’s brilliant. It puts Firefox to shame in terms of speed. It’s completely rewritten to be, pretty much, bulletproof. Each tab is set as it’s own process. So if you have 5 tabs open in Chrome, you’ll get 5 processes in your task manager. I was a bit weary of this to start with. Google’s reasoning behind this is so that if a page you load crashes, you only lose that tab. The rest of the browser, and your other tabs, are still in perfect condition. Right now, I have 6 tabs open, meaning 7 processes. The core process is using 50mb, and the 6 tab-processes use between 7 and 17mb (the open-tab being the heaviest). In total, Chrome is using 117mbs of RAM. I have to say, I’m impressed.

Google have also incorporated their own branding into the browser, naturally. The top bar is also your Google search bar. A feature I find incredibly useful, for me, is something I will explain in an example. (Click the img for a larger version)

If you were paying attention, you’ll see the ads on that website. Yep. That’s right. Chrome has no adblock. In fact, Chrome has no sign of add-on support whatsoever. People have fought back, though. And there are various workarounds. Yet still no official Add-On database. Don’t fear, though! Google themselves have stated upcoming add-on support like nothing we’ve seen before! As well as greasemonkey-compatibility out of the box!

Maybe I’m just buying in to the hype. Maybe I’m just your typical fanboy wanting to look cool and supportive. Or maybe this browser will quickly become one of the best browsers out there, right next to Firefox. Who knows. I certainly enjoy the fact that Firefox now has some serious competition. There will definitely be improvements and advancements on both ends. In short, I use Google Chrome for it’s simplicity, it’s stability and, interestingly, it’s All-In-One page.

Here’s some links you can follow for more information -

http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en-GB/features.html

– Danny

Tags: Browser, Chrome, Google, Google Chrome, Internet, Review

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 2:27 am and is filed under Google, Reviews, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.