Over the last six months or so, I’ve become extremely frustrated with Internet browsers. Slow, clunky, and prone to memory leaks, they become increasingly unreliable the more you use them, and that’s not right. Increasing problems with Firefox 3 led me to adopt the faster Safari on my Windows machine– ridiculous-sounding, I know, but istill the best option. Of course, working with a primarily Mac-based browser within Windows leads to a variety of other issues, none of which are pleasant. I’ve been tired of compromising on user experience when it comes to the Internet.
Today, though, my compromising comes to an end with the release of Google’s new web browser, Chrome. Advertised as fast, simple, and safe, the release of this phenomenal application two years in the making sends Safari to the Recycle Bin for me.
If you haven’t heard of Chrome yet, check up on the leading tech blogs, or better yet, read through the fantastic Chrome comic by clicking here. It puts a bunch of complicated words into much more readily-digestible pictures.
Fast and reliable
Google Chrome really takes the best attributes of the fabled tortoise and hare: both speedy and steady, there’s really no reason not to switch over immediately. I’m writing this post in Chrome and have already noticed dozens of speed improvements and optimizations that have made the process a joy, and I haven’t even been using the browser for twenty minutes yet.
I’m writing this post in Chrome and have already noticed dozens of speed improvements and optimizations.
The Google Chrome developers have worked out behind-the-scenes hocus pocus that maintains each individual tab as a unique process, meaning each site you visit or application you interact with is in its own little world, all to itself. This means that when one tab crashes, you don’t lose everything in your browser, and so forth.
A Googley concern
As with most things Google, adopting one of the company’s services normally means one thing: you’re obtaining access to a fantastic service at the price of a huge amount of personal data being made available to the company. Although an overwhelming majority of Google users are comfortable with this trade-off, it’s still something to be kept in the back of users’ minds. Google has been taking some aggressive steps in unusual directions lately, and it’s important we keep these advancements in reasonable check.
When Google released its project Knol a few weeks ago, Silicon Valley sage and Google competitor Jason Calacanis sent out an insightful article over his private listserv called, “Is Google a Content Company?” In it, he wisely suggested:
First, I think startups need to be honest with Google when they feel Google is going over the line. Most folks in the Valley are terrified of Google and they don’t want to publicly criticize them for fear that their Google rankings might drop, or for fear that when it comes time to sell their company Google might blacklist them.
Although these comments were directed at Knol, we can consider them within the framework of Chrome as well.
The best service wins
Regardless of what Google’s doing with its terabytes of personal data, I still recommend that you download Chrome immediately, if you haven’t yet. It’s clearly going to be an enormous winner in the browser space and is only going to save time and effort for its users. In one fell swoop, the reign of Internet Explorer, Safari, and up-and-coming Firefox might soon be put to an end.
The bottom line: as I use Chrome, I realize that the speed at which I access the Internet is now limited to my own processing speed, not that of my browser.
You can download Chrome by clicking here.
Enjoy this post? Why don’t you follow this blog via RSS?
- Google updates favicon; entire internet looks twice Small news, perhaps? It's worth noting that Google seems to have changed their favicon....
- DISQUS and Tumblr: A tale of two releases It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was...
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I plan on letting go of Firefox when Google Chrome releases for Mac!
Well, giving it a chance at least.
I was very excited about trying Chrome out, but I get a this error every time I try to load a page:
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click OK to terminate the application.
Hmm, ghosttie, I wonder what that’s a result of. Are you trying to import old Firefox settings, by any chance? That’s the only thing I can think of (although it doesn’t sound like you’re even getting that far from your description).
Definitely recommend you do so, Zakk! I hope they don’t keep you Mac users waiting for long.
I imported my settings from Firefox (and it took a long time because I have a lot of history) but I get the error every time I open Chrome and when it’s open I get it every time I try to go to a page.
I tried rebooting, switching XP compatibility mode on, running as Administrator - none of it helped.
I blogged about the error and from the number of hits and comments, a lot of other people are getting this too.
Thanks for this post. For me It’s day 2 with chrome, I normally browse, search, download, watch video simultaneous as well as use browser chat widgets..which has made Firefox run like a tortoise on my desktop..but its been an astonishing experience since last 48 hours and counting as I write from Chrome.. its been a lightning speed of difference using FF3, IE8 and Opera. Hoping to see more from G’s Chrome
i’m willing to try it out just to see if it works more efficiently than FireFox… if it’s faster than Firefox and isn’t IE, then i’ll use it
I like Chrome, very fast… but as an avid FireFox user I can no longer stand to see ads on website. Using the Ad Blocker Add On in FF has been a blessing and there is no way I could ever use another browser that doesn’t have it, or some such feature like Ad Blocker. And I don’t foresee Google allowing anyone to block ads.
Also, I use the Yahoo toolbar much like I would an application. It IS my Internet experience… I don’t foresee Google allowing that either. So, for now, as a graphics professional I’ll have Chrome installed for testing and curiosity… but as it stands currently it could never be my main browser.
Thanks for the comments, guys! An interesting point you make about the Yahoo Toolbar, Ryan– you’re right, it’s difficult to envision seeing it within the Chrome framework
Did you find it was quicker, media buff? I certainly did.
Yeah i hope i don’t have to wait too long. I installed it using VMWare Fusion so i got a taste using Windows XP. I loved it.
P.S. - This post is so very well put together it makes me drool.
It’s so nice and simple, it takes attention away from the browser, as any good browser should, in my opinion. Since I think plugins bog down the experience, I don’t mind the fact that they’re missing.
Glad you love the styling! Lets me know the cash I shelled out for this theme was worth it.
I’ve become to reliant on my bloated Firefox install with all my wonderful and powerful add-ons. I totally understand your point about giving Google more data… I mean if you have a Google Toolbar installed than you are giving them a lot of that already! Combine that with what they know about me through Gmail, Google Docs, Webmaster Tools, Blogger, Feedburner, Google Analytics, Google Search, AdSense, Adwords… what am I forgetting here?
I actually downloaded Chrome yesterday, and it certainly shows potential. (I’m using Vista.) I particularly like how the tabs are placed at the top of the browser and how easy it was to import everything from Firefox.
However, Chrome still has a few quirks in it. The most annoying one that I’ve found—and the reason why I’ve gone back to Firefox—is that it only allows me to scroll *down* using the scroll pad on my laptop; I can’t scroll back up and must instead use the arrow key, [PG UP], etc. I’ve also found that Chrome is not necessarily faster than Firefox. On many sites, it is. On Facebook, however, Chrome is abominably slow for me. (And how many sites are there that are more important than Facebook?) For some reason, I’ve also found it hard to distinguish when I’ve actually clicked on a link, as opposed to not tapping the touch pad hard enough.
These things notwithstanding, I can still see the potential for Chrome. But it’s still too early in the beta stage to switch over, in my view.