One month later, has Chrome’s polish lasted?
Google has attracted few converts with its Web browser but it's thinking long term.
By Jeremy Kutner | Contributor for The Christian Science Monitor/ October 2, 2008 edition
Paul Sakuma/AP
To judge from the thousands of articles that followed Google’s release of its Web browser, Chrome, one thing was clear: A browser war is on. But now that a month has passed, average users could be excused for wondering what all this buzz was about, and whether switching to a new browser is actually worth the effort.
So what does Chrome actually mean for the everyday Web surfer? Right now, not much – but a few years out, Google’s browser could mean a whole lot more.
The reason: Chrome was built to be the browser of the future, or, more specifically, the browser for a Google future. The search-engine giant expects a global shift toward Web-based applications – services that are nearly identical to Microsoft Word and Excel, but that tap into the concept of “cloud computing,” where programs operate exclusively on the Internet.
“The process of moving to Web-based applications is well under way already,” says Rafe Needleman, editor of CNET’s webware.com. “The number of people relying on Web-based e-mail, for example, is really high. This all just sort of happened.”
Everything about Chrome is designed to spur and support online applications. The biggest change is invisible. Many of today’s Web applications use a programing language called JavaScript. Chrome churns through JavaScript faster than other browsers, according to Google.
Tech websites disagree on how much faster, but the consensus holds that Chrome speeds past rival browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer (IE) – especially when it comes to Google’s own websites, such as Gmail and Google Docs. Of course, even major improvements in efficiency are often measured in seconds or milliseconds – far too small to make a huge difference in people’s lives.
Another big feature, and the one most important to casual users, involves the tabs many people create to open multiple websites within a single window. Whereas Firefox and IE treat each tab as a branch of the main browser window, Chrome runs as if each tab were a window all its own. So, if one of Chrome’s tabs crashes, it doesn’t take all of the other tabs down with it.
This is nice if you’re opening a bunch of YouTube videos simultaneously, or, say, editing a Google document and a spreadsheet in different tabs. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have announced plans to include similar features in future versions.
Beyond that, though, the differences between Chrome, Firefox, and IE are mostly cosmetic. All three are generally regarded as safe, though Chrome, which is still in its “beta” testing version, has had a few bugs emerge in the days following its release. Some people prefer lesser-known browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome, over IE for the simple reason that fewer hackers bother to sniff out vulnerabilities in the less popular programs.
“[The upcoming] Internet Explorer 8 has some pretty cool new security features, and there will probably be even more new ones in the future,” Mr. Needleman says. “Every new product learns from its predecessors and competitors.”
Perhaps the most telling statistic comes from Net Applications, which tracks browser usage. It estimates show that Chrome’s market share has barely bobbed over 1 percent in its debut month. And don’t expect a wave of converts anytime soon. For the past eight years, the browser war has been an incremental fight. Google doesn’t seem too worried. Even if people never download Chrome, its presence will inspire programmers to create more online application, the company hopes. So, if the company’s vision of the Web comes true, Google stands to reshape the online world in an even more drastic way than it already has.
“Chrome will have a fairly large impact on the robustness of Web-based applications,” says Needleman, “even if people don’t use Chrome itself.”
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Comments
2. Daniel Robinson | 10.02.08
I’ve never used a browser more reliable than Chrome, with the possible exception of Opera.
3. Kurt Vander Bogart | 10.02.08
The relationship between customer and software developer is changing. I personally don’t care to stop what I’m doing to see if a specific update is worth my time. So now, I have to look at Office, Adobe Creative, Firefox, Chrome, two OS’s, iPhone Apps, Widgets and 25 additional programs. If I am using a product, I expect the developer to update when needed. The more transparent, the better. I don’t have the time to study each update.
4. Kenjunior | 10.02.08
I tried to support Chrome. Daily basic browsing, its good. Daily productivity Google NEEDS to step up. Sirius online radio doesn’t work and many of my necessary secured websites don’t render correctly or at all. I still have it installed but its been reduced to back seat to IE.
5. Paddy Rao | 10.02.08
There are so many nice features, and I love Chrome.
But there are so many bugs still. Radio buttons don’t work. Pages look flaky.
Can’t input data, e.g., http://www.r2d2translator.com. Try this site on Chrome and then on other browsers.
Once these bugs are fixed, Chrome will be a dandy to use. I love the fact that I can type in what I want instead of the http address.
6. Rick Saxton | 10.02.08
I like and use Chrome because of its very noticible speed improvement. But I also use IE7 because Chrome doesn’t currently have the functionality that I like. Surprizingly, it has no Google bar so it doesn’t have the autofill option that I like. I think it will be real good in time.
7. Dr.Q | 10.02.08
I am a google fan. Everything I used to go into the internet is google. Now the browser I think they did not put enough work into it or the idea was real bad and the speed thing actually did not work for me. I was totally disgusted by the way it worked. I expected something really better as everything google does.
8. Floyd Edwards | 10.03.08
I love Google Chrome. Up until Chrome was released, I was a die hard FireFox fan but Chrome changed everything for me. I’ve nearly completely switched over to Chrome, except there are a few exceptions where saved passwords won’t auto complete and I have to find them in FireFox and if I want to watch a YouTube video (which isn’t very often, due to my horrific down stream speed) because it seems that Adobe Flash Player doesn’t support the new browser at the moment.
I admit, Chrome isn’t flawless. It definitely has it’s share of bugs here and there, but up against it’s wonderful design and actually noticeable speed increase they don’t matter that much. Once the team at Google fix up the problems, and the compatibility issues are sorted out - Chrome will without a doubt be the best browser (in my humble opinion).
9. stale | 10.03.08
I enjoy Chrome so far. Sometimes I’m tempted to go back to IE or FF (although Opera is good too), because Chrome’s Flash handling is pretty shaky (often you have to restart Flash or restart the browser, as sound will go out in YouTube videos, etc). But I LOVE its minimalistic user interface (reminding me of how you could configure IE6-and-earlier so that it didn’t take up much room on the screen), and it is pretty fast, although whether it’s faster than the others overall is actually kind of hard to say. Seems to be too CPU-intensive, but it’s good about memory, which IE8-beta2 is terrible about.
10. Dalmatian28 | 10.04.08
Thanks but NO thanks Google! Everything that Google does has only one purpose…support and increase advertisement! The browser is not bad for first edition….but I don’t think that it will get much better than this! I just don’t want to install advertising platform (”Google Adaware”) on my computer!
11. wnyoldguy | 10.04.08
I use all three browsers and many time shave all opened at the same time. It seems like more junk e-mail makes it through filters since I installed Chrome, but I am not sure it is a cause and effect issue. Both Chrome and FF seem to work well and do no provide the inconvenience of “Internet Explorer has encountered problems and will be shut down”. IE provides the majority of irritants when used.
12. Yuriy | 10.04.08
“Can’t input data, e.g., http://www.r2d2translator.com. Try this site on Chrome and then on other browsers”
Works for me.
‘because it seems that Adobe Flash Player doesn’t support the new browser at the moment”
YouTube works just fine.
I love Chrome, and it’s my default browser atm. It has not crashed once in a month. It’s amazingly fast. It has minimal UI, which lets you see more pages and less browser panels. Omni bar is very convinient. Too bad it doesn’t support smooth scrolling yet. And there are some more flaws in it, but it’s a beta, isn’t it?
13. Dennis | 10.09.08
I can’t believe I fell for it again. First I waste time trying out Chrome. Then I went to that http://www.r2d2translator.com. I am sooo gullible. I can’t wait for John McCain to reform himself and the system.
14. Michael | 10.25.08
chrome lacks the impact that picasa had at release, which is the minimalism argument. Picasa 3 shows how far an advance from base for chrome is expected to move.
15. Eric Z | 10.29.08
I actually like Chrome better than IE or Firefox, though at this time there are some difficulties on some websites but overall I think that as a beta product it is one of the best I have seen, I cannot wait for more updates as development moves on. I did have a problem with the flash but I went to Adobe’s site and downloaded it myself and it installed fine, just wouldn’t auto load.
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1. Bob Taylor | 10.02.08
I uninstalled Chrome because it doesn’t allow you to opt out of automatic updates. So Google can make the browser into what they want, when they want without asking for permission from the user. IMO this shows a lack of respect for the public and is certainly not standard practice.