Google Chrome

[Kralik]

Google has made their own web browser! Has anyone tried it out? I love the visual style, but I miss FF's extensions (particularly AdBlockPlus). I may install a dedicated ad blocker like Proxomitron or Privoxy so that I can use it in peace.

On the other hand, I fear that Google is aiming on world domination... just how much do you want one company to be able to track all of your online activity for commercial purposes?

[SomeRandomDude]

I like Firefox. If its not broken, don't fix it.

All you IE users, go ahead.

[AgentDrake]

On the other hand, I fear that Google is aiming on world domination... just how much do you want one company to be able to track all of your online activity for commercial purposes?

This assumes they haven't already achieved it....

Seriously, though. Haven't checked out the browser; hadn't even heard of it until now. I might take a look at it, but I really, really like Firefox, and I'm thinking that even Google's not gonna be much better.

[Kralik]

I like Firefox. If its not broken, don't fix it.

I thought MS-DOS worked great! Why did we need anything else?

In the spirit of innovation and development, new ideas and features are always a good thing. Google is trying to fix some of the pitfalls that plague other browsers. Specifically, this browser has a rewritten Javascript engine which is confirmed to be much faster, as well as a new process management model: Every tab has a separate process. The big deal about that is that if one tab crashes or hangs, it doesn't make the whole browser crash. Even on my new laptop, with 4GB of RAM, Dual core yadda yadda, if I go to the file manager for my website (run by Javascript) and select one of the directories with LotR cards/images (~3500 files), the whole browser hangs. This happens for both FF (2 or 3) and IE. Maybe in about 5-10 minutes it will start responding, but it's as slow as ****! My only recourse is to kill firefox.exe and lose all other tabs I have open. I've had to learn that the hard way. And there have been times where FF has crashed on me for no discernible reason (probably some poorly designed website).

Another one of the features that Google is advertising is better memory management. FF3 is better than FF2, but they both use a lot of memory if you have a lot of tabs open. Say, 15. When you close them, it doesn't always release that memory. Chrome fixes that with its multiple-process model. When you close a tab, it releases the memory back to the OS.

In any case, Google has made the browser open source and given other companies and users the opportunity to learn from its improvements and put them in its own software. Some of these features may make it downstream to FF.

[DáinIronfoot]

Hey, don't go dissing DOS. Even these days, sometimes there's nothing faster than a little command prompt.

[Kralik]

Like I said, it worked great! Really! But that's not to say that looking for improvements (in that case, UI) is a bad idea. IE had (has?) lots of bugs, but it did "work." FF's goal was for people to "rediscover the web," so they created something new that turned out to be something better. BTW, I'm still using FF, but I think the Chrome project looks very interesting (and I love the interface. Beats IE in a heartbeat)

[DáinIronfoot]

(and I love the interface. Beats IE in a heartbeat)

That's not saying much, boss.

Seriously though, I have yet to check it out, but fully intend to when I have a good chunk of time to sit down and really play with it. I love my Firefox (they can't make me give up v1.0.7! ), but it's probably time for a change.

[Elf_Lvr]

IE had (has?) lots of bugs, but it did "work."

Some program I tried to put on my computer that was incompatible with Vista crashed my IE, which is, of course, the program Vista runs off of. Microsoft has failed me.

Firefox is awesome, but I haven't had the time to check out FF3 yet, but this google thing might be good too. Anything that makes my computer go faster! I have a ton of stuff clogging up my computer's memory (which is saying something at 586 GB!) so I could always use something that helps preserve memory.

[Malachi]

I love Opera for many things, but especially for the ability to create a list of sites forbidden to access. Now I see no banners, no google-ads, no porn advertisements... I simply forbid my browser do download them! Works great for me

[DáinIronfoot]

Yeah, I've heard good things about Opera but never gave that a whirl either.

Incidentally, I am currently logged in and typing this from Chrome. Feels like a giant Google toolbar to me, which isn't entirely a good thing, but it's simple enough. I do NOT like how it overrides my Windows theme by using the XP standard blue bar and buttons, but that's a minor thing.

One nice feature: auto spelling check as I type. If I spell a word wrong, it underlines it with a red squiggly line like Word does. That's pretty nifty.

[Kralik]

One nice feature: auto spelling check as I type. If I spell a word wrong, it underlines it with a red squiggly line like Word does. That's pretty nifty.

Not a new feature for FF2/3 users, Dain.

I love Opera for many things, but especially for the ability to create a list of sites forbidden to access. Now I see no banners, no google-ads, no porn advertisements... I simply forbid my browser do download them! Works great for me

I hear a lot of good things about Opera too... I've used it off and on. AdBlockPlus for FireFox is IMO the "killer" extension -- blocks all the things you've listed above. Subscribe to "Easylist + EasyElement" and it kills both pop-up and in-line ads (such as Google ads).

The Internet with ads is a scary place... 

[Elessar's Socks]

Haha, the memory leaks were absolutely crazy in FF2. Sometimes I'd leave the browser open for days on end (hibernating the computer), and the memory usage would break the 150,000 K mark and keep on climbing.

Guess with Chrome I'll take a wait-and-see approach (like Vista ), and let others sort out the vulnerabilities and bug issues first. *LOL* The separate-process thing sounds interesting, since I've also lost posts work before with one tab causing the entire browser to crash. It happens with PDF files sometimes, but at least that can be fixed by killing the Reader process and not the entire browser.

Those issues aside, Firefox has been great and I'd be really reluctant to switch.

[Kralik]

Tip: Ditch Acrobat Reader and use the free PDF-XViewer (direct download). It's awesome, much faster, and it lets you edit PDF's as well. It does have some "Pro" features but there is an option to hide them from the interface. I've tried Foxit, Sumatra, etc, but this is by far the best.

I hate the way Acrobat stalls a browser!

Chrome is working amazing for me so far with Javascript. I can go to my aforementioned file manager and it loads a folder with 3500 cards within about a minute. And then it actually works! In the meantime, I'm free to use the browser to do other things.

EDIT: Aside from being bloated rubbish, Acrobat Reader also conveniently installs a bunch of programs that run in the background and will constantly irritate you asking for updates. Meh.