Google joins the browser battle

[Good Times]

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

Youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRqmfCFU_AI)
Google Browser Link (http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/features.html?hl=en&brand=CHMG&utm_source=en-hpp&utm_medium=hpp&utm_campaign=en)



A fresh take on the browser

At Google, we spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And like all of you, in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends - all using a browser. People are spending an increasing amount of time online, and they're doing things never imagined when the web first appeared about 15 years ago.

Since we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if you started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.

So today we're releasing the beta version of a new open source browser: Google Chrome.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff - the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better . By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built V8, a more powerful JavaScript engine, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

This is just the beginning - Google Chrome is far from done. We've released this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and we'll continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we're committed to continuing on their path. We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others - and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better.

But enough from us. The best test of Google Chrome is to try it yourself.

Though I'm a mac person, I will download the pc version and test it out on my test pc. Should be interesting to see what the hoopla is all about :)

[2ndGen]

i'll wait till the sp1 come out, hehe.., maybe next week??

[Seanz0rz]

im just not impressed. ive been using firefox since it was in its alpha versions (literally minutes after the break from netscape). it works for whatever i do, works and is virtually the same on both platforms i run (xp and linux). i have no reason to switch.


also worth looking into the EULA for the software... as is typical with google products, they own you... http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html [explanation here (http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/09/03/2130233.shtml)]

here is a nice review from ars: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080902-hands-on-with-chrome-googles-browser-shines-mostly.html

i guess what it boils down to for me: nothing in firefox makes me want to switch. there is no reason for me to download another program and have to learn a totally different UI.

if you are still using internet explorer, first shame on you!, second, i would give this a try!

[Whitey]

Though I'm a mac person, I will download the pc version and test it out on my test pc. Should be interesting to see what the hoopla is all about :)

That's a very mac person thing to say.

[Bob98SR5]

ill wait on this like i will wait until a new car's first gen's first year model has been run through its paces and had all the bugs worked out

[mastacox]

I downloaded it to try it out, and it's a very capable browser. It's faster than FireFox 3.0 or IE7 both in startup time and webpage load times, and has a few cool features I haven't seen before. Haven't found any wierd bugs or crashes, overall it runs very quickly and smoothly. The pared down interface is refreshing because it loads instantly where as FF3 takes about 30 seconds to load on my computer.

The automatic searching in the address bar is cool, but I'm used to typing in the first few letters of a website I visited a while ago and the address automatically popping up, rather than a bunch of search results popping up. This will probably make me rely on my favorites more.

Overall, in some ways it seems too minimal to me; maybe when some addons/plugins come out for it I'll be happier with some small customizations (like built-in Stumbleupon capabilities and Weather updates), but right now it kind of seems like a browser you'd find on a PDA or something. No stop button, no file bar or tool bar, no status bar. Just a fast interface that takes up half the resources of comparable browsers (I'm looking forward to the portable apps version, this browser was practically made for it). Computers these days would do well to cut the fat in some areas. It's pretty ridiculous how much system resources FF3 and IE7 take to run...

[Cebby]

I'm using it as of today. I like it so far...

[Whitey]

it loads instantly where as FF3 takes about 30 seconds to load on my computer.

Strange, FF3 loads instantly for me, and I don't have the fastest service plan either.

[Ric]

i dont see what the buzz is all about, im running IE on vista, and that does everything i want or need, no need to download more junk, if what i got is fine :headscratch:

[Erich_870]

I downloaded it yesterday. It is visibly faster on my machine. I thought I may as well check it out since I'm still on IE :tapedshut: :chair:

Erich

[Lee]

supposedly ie8 will consume as much resources as WINDOWS XP!!!! how stupid!

[calrockx]

I like Firefox for its extensions, there are some I use daily like FireBug and MouseGestures. Once Chrome supports a variety of extensions, I'm on board.

[scottiac]

I tried this out on a couple of computers. I like some things very much... the summary of most visited pages on the new tab is awesome. But on the speed front, FF3 is much faster for Flash rendering and the like. (It could probably take FF2 though, that was pretty slow.)

So far I'm still a dedicated FF user, but I have all three (IE, FF, GC) on my work and home machines now.