I started using Google Chrome recently. Although it’s an extension-free version, it’s very good – fast and with a cool search feature that also doubles as the place where URL addresses appear. It’s yet another Google tool with my digital toolbox, along with search (regular, blog and image), GMail, Google Reader, Google Maps and YouTube.
As much as you may want to resist, it’s difficult to not be part of the ever-expanding Google empire. Most of their services work really well, and they’re free. Before you know it, your digital world is dominated by Google.
One of the questions it raises is whether there’s a limit to the size of Google’s empire, and whether are any markets that it is not prepared to enter. This week, for example,...
Dennis Howlett is amongst the realists when it comes to GoogleOS, and he rightly reminds us that:
Linux has not fared so well in the Netbooks market and I don’t see anything here that makes me think Google ChromeOS will do any better. Where’s the secret sauce here other than the Google halo effect painted over with the browser and duly hyped by the SV Google lovers? Sure, I can see why Google might make subtle statements that people wish to interpret but the reality is no-one outside the Silicon Valley tech bubble gives a damn what operating system and browser they use. Many are still mandated to use IE6 as a colleague reminded me the other day. Simply having Google wave its hand is not going to sway hard nosed enterprise buyers – even if it is free. Which neatly brings me to...
Last night, I was thinking about some of the products I’d like to see Google develop (e.g. a blog publishing tool and iPhone apps for Google Reader and GMail).
In mentally considering other possibilities, one thing that I didn’t thing about was an operating system. So, it was interesting to wake up this morning to discover Google has unveiled plans to launch a new (and free) operating system, Google Chrome OS, next year.
My thoughts:
1. If the battle between Google and Microsoft was heated before, it’s even more intense now. Instead of politely jabbing at Microsoft, Google has taken off the gloves and intent on punching Microsoft where it hurts.
2. It was really only a matter of time before Google launched an OS given it’s been moving into Microsoft’s turf...
So, many moons ago I wrote about how I was having a problem with Chrome – namely that it would erratically *not* resolve a variety of hosts in surfing the web. This resulted in an incredibly frustrating experience which I presumed had improved when I fiddled with the DNS “pre-fetching” option. In fact, as I discovered several weeks ago, this was not a permanent fix.
So great was my frustration I went a-hunting … it turns out that I am not the only one with this problem. It has been documented in Google Groups here and here, amongst other places. Some people have reported it may be a bug due to dual network cards, in another report. Nevertheless, as I thought about it, I wondered if the whole DNS-issue was the real problem I was having, and lo … so it...
Dear Google,
I’m writing to let you know that I’ve been well behaved this year. I’ve worked hard (and now focused on finding a new gig), blogged diligently, embraced Twitter and microblogging, and continued to sign up for dozens of betas to support the whole Web 2.0 ecosystem.
With Christmas on the horizon, I’m hoping you and your army of PhD elves within the Googleplex will bring me some gifts. They include:
1. Launching a Mac version of the Chrome browser. Mac is the hottest platform and the OS of choice among the cool people so I still find it puzzling Chrome is still Windows-only even though Chrome has escaped from beta purgatory. Since I’m not allowed to download anything onto my wife’s Windows-powered laptop, I’ve only seen Chrome from...
There’s a lot of buzz about Google taking its Chrome browser out of beta. Now, the question is whether Chrome has what it takes to become the next Firefox, let alone the next Internet Explorer.
Like Ars Technica suggests, Chrome is a viable contender in the browser market but there are no guarantees it’s going to become popular even with Google’s marketing/brand muscle behind it.
So far, I’ve yet to get the sense that Chrome has truly resonated with a lot of users. Sure, there are people who love the no-frills, streamlined approach but Chrome doesn’t appear to be loved in the same way that Firefox users love the spunky-little-browser-that-could.
Perhaps the difference lies in the fact that Firefox is a classic underdog - open source, developed and supported...
It’s only been a few weeks since Google unleashed Chrome but the buzz seems to have pretty much evaporated.
There are probably happy Chrome users but given the excitement about its debut, the Web’s newest browser (the one that was going to reignite the browser wars) appears to have fallen flat. You don’t hear people raving about Chrome or blog extolling its virtues.
Is Chrome a dud?
Well, you could argue Chrome is under-whelming. Without many bells and whistles, Chrome is like being asked to drive a Chevy Cavalier as opposed to a fully-loaded BMW. Other than the novelty factor, there are few reasons to embrace Chrome right now.
Of course, it would be unwise to dismiss Chrome as another Froogle (aka Google Product Seach). With Chrome, Google has dipped its toe in the...
Well, solved for me anyway. Sometime a few hours after it was released, Firefox stopped becoming my regular browser, and Chrome *did*. I know — I was kind of amazed myself, in spite of all the plugins I’ve been missing. At any rate, one thing I’ve begun noticing has been getting worse: its seeming inability to “resolve the host”.
This would lead to the browser essentially “hanging” and then timing out while it was waiting to fetch web pages. For a browser that I’ve been relying on mostly … well, to browse … this was becoming problematic.
Turns out there are a few easy solutions for this that you can try:
1. delete your cache
2. delete your browsing history
3. delete your download history
4. disable “DNS...
After years and years of using Internet Explorer as my main browser to access the Internet, I recently switched to the latest version of Firefox – yes, I liked it that much. I also recently downloaded Internet Explorer 8 to see what it was all about, but it couldn't hold a candle to Firefox. Then, I downloaded Google's new Chrome browser and was quite disappointed. Of the three browsers, it is the worst. For starters, there is no button on the toolbar that allows you to go back to your preset home page. Why anyone would create a browser...
So I’ve been using Chrome for a little while. I still likes it, but there are a few things that have come to my attention that require me updating my original post. One retraction of sorts, and two other things that greatly annoy (and maybe its just me).
1. Chrome isn’t as “small” as I thought: I cottoned on to this fairly quickly after my initial post. Chrome isn’t kidding when it talks about thinking of each tab as its own set of processes; if you have a look at the Windows Task Manager, you’ll find there are many many instances of Chrome floating around, probably in some way representing all of the separate silo’d processes that Chrome is touting. Yes, this is probably good for stability. But I was initially bufalloed into thinking...
I promise this will be my last post about Chrome for awhile, but one thing that has struck me since the world’s newest browser was unveiled on earlier this week is what took Google so long to do it.
In Wired’s “Inside Chrome” story, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is seen as being anti-browser when the idea was raised by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2001. “I did not believe that the company was strong enough to withstand a browser war,” he said. “It was important that our strategic aspirations be relatively under the radar.”
Schmidt’s reluctance can be somewhat understood given Google was still relatively small in 2001 but it is strange that it took until 2006 until the browser project was finally given the green light.
So what changed?
Was...
My laptop is running XP, and its a bit of an oldish machine. Pentium M. 500 MB RAM. 80 gig hard drive. Its running a little slower these days — seems to slow right down the instant you right click on a folder, or open up the control panel. In fact, its so slow I don’t even use the native version of Firefox 3.0 anymore — I use Firefox portable, as its a heck of a lot faster to boot up. We’re talking about 90 seconds versus about 30.
I like to keep my that kind of operating environment in mind as some of the discourse around Firefox vs. Chrome heats up / cools down, particularly as some of the rhetoric revolves around the speed of said browsers (of which I contributed a small at amount), one thing that sticks out that Mozilla has yet to address is how...
Chrome is definitely new and worth checking out but I’ve decided not to get too excited about it.
How come?
First, I’m having trouble installing it on the two Windows laptops in my house, which is a long story that has nothing to do with my broadband connection or willingness to install it.
Second, the one lesson I’ve learned from being a beta whore over the past few years is if you’re happy with the application you’re currently using, then think twice about trying out something else simply because it’s new. The same approach could be embraced when it comes to upgrades that promise more features but, quite often, headaches as well.
Bottom line: I really like Firefox. I like how it performs, including the new features in Firefox 3.0; I like how I can...
If you listen to the fine folks at Google, they universally love Firefox. In fact, many of them agonized over Google’s decision to create its own browser because they didn’t want to damage the scrappy open-source rival that has given IE fits. (Wired has the inside story of Chrome’s creation.)
Nevertheless, Google decided it had no choice but to develop Chrome. Now the question is how badly will Chrome damage Firefox. Will Firefox users abandon ship because Chrome is simply shiny and new? Or will Chrome be a novelty for Firefox users who love the ability to personalize Firefox more than Chrome’s no-frills look and feel.
The other consideration is financial given referral revenue from Google accounted for more than 80% of Mozilla’s $66.8-million revenue in...
If you’re looking for more than the typical “Chrome is great” response to Google’s new browser, here are some of the ones I’ve come across that I think make good points and/or go into some depth. For whatever it’s worth, I think it’s pretty good — and it seems pretty damn fast as well. Will I make it my default? Not just yet.
– Walt Mossberg has a review of Chrome up at All Things D and seems to like it, but isn’t blown away (his speed tests don’t jibe with mine though, and CNET says Chrome beats every other browser).
– SEO 2.0 thinks that a Google browser could actually be a bad thing, for a number of reasons (some of them good).
– Jack Schofield at The Guardian notes that almost all of Chrome’s features...
Having played around with Google’s new browser, Chrome, I’d like to offer my two bits to the ongoing bloggasm around its release. If you’re looking for an indepth review, wander over to Uncle Walt’s breakdown. I modestly submit to you that if you’re a busy individual, these are the only two things you really need to know before you go and try it out for yourself.
1. Its incomplete, but that’s ok.
In fact, its more than ok. Its practically zen in how fast, how small, and how lightweight it is. Its also standards compliant. True, its many features echo things that either IE8 does, or Opera does, or what Firefox extensions do, but to me that’s neither here nor there. What’s glaringly missing, however, is that unlike Firefox, it...
By now, Google Chrome’s features are being closely dissected but one thing that struck me about the press conference earlier today was the focus on a feature called InCognito, which lets computer users have private surfing sessions that leave no tracks of where they’ve been and what they’ve done.
InCognito comes hot on the heels of a feature within IE8 Beta called InPrivate that lets you do the exact same thing. It’s anonymous surfing.
What I want to know is what people are doing that has compelled Google and Microsoft to roll out InCognito, which features a private detective icon, and inPrivate.
Are far more people than we think enjoying online porn? Are people trying to protect their eBay activity? Is Ashley Madison becoming all the rage within our increasingly...
As I said in my post yesterday about Google’s new Chrome browser (and as a number of others have also noted, including Kara Swisher and Mike Arrington) Google’s real target isn’t Microsoft’s Internet Exploder, or even Mozilla’s Firefox, but the desktop operating system market. As Fred Wilson points out in his blog post on the topic, Google’s focus is the “cloud” — i.e., Web-based applications such as GMail and Google Docs and so on — and for an increasing number of people (including me), the browser is just a window through which they can use a variety of Web-based services.
So the point of Chrome is to turn the browser into a better interface for those Web services and apps, by using a faster, custom-made version of Javascript,...
If Google’s decision to get into the browser business can be read as a bold/aggressive move to cement its online domination, then maybe it should acquire Wordpress.
Here’s the thinking behind such an audacious statement: If you look at the GBrowser (aka Chrome), it has the potential to be yet another will-use/must-use Google service (a la search, GMail, Google Earth, Docs, Google Maps, YouTube, etc.).
By launching Chrome, Google will not only have an ever-growing portfolio of services that drive billions of page views but a browser that will give it a platform to deliver even more people to its revenue-generating properties based on the concept that its own services will be tightly integrated.
So, here’s where Wordpress fits into the strategic scheme of things....
Lots of interesting news about Google’s new browser, Chrome, and lots more interesting questions around it. I love the comic by Scott Adams McCloud, being a fan of his work (mainly Understanding Comics and Making Comics ) as well, but that’s beside the point. The most surprising news, for me, is that its not being released at some unknown period in the future, but tomorrow. As in two hours from now. For news this big, its kind of amazing we haven’t heard anything trickle out except for unsubstantiated rumours. That’s awesome.
The other thing that struck me is that Chrome could be crap — and it probably won’t, but it could be — and yet, the penetration of this product could be *huge*. Google owns almost 70% of the total search in North...
One of the big online mysteries has been Google’s lack of its own Web browser.
You figure with the never number of online services coming out of the GoogleSphere, that a browser would be a no-brainer. Yet, Google has sat on the sidelines while supporting/financing Firefox as its browser proxy.
Now, there are reports (and I stress “reports”) Google is finally getting into the browser game with a project called Chrome. I’ll leave the nitty-gritty details to Google Blogoscoped but strategically this is a logical and smart move by Google.
If cloud computing is going to be how applications are offered, then the browser is the next OS. By having a browser, Google moves right into the core of cloud computing, along with Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, etc....
The reliably excellent Philipp Lenssen at Google Blogoscoped has what appears to be pretty solid confirmation of a Google browser — known currently as Chrome — that is apparently in development at the Web behemoth. Phil got an email that included a comic from Scott McCloud, which describes the new browser in some detail: it includes several features that borrow from Opera (tabs above the address bar, a “home page” that features most-browsed pages and links, etc.), as well as what appears to be a new approach to the browser engine.
According to Ionut Alex. Chitu at the Google Operating System blog, the new browser will isolate each website in its own “sandbox,” so that if something goes wrong with one page it doesn’t crash the whole browser. Among...