First impressions of Google's Chrome

I have had the opportunity to use Chrome, I can sum it up in one word....'brilliant'....I have never seen a web browsing application with such power, speed and ease of use. I declare that 2008 is the death of Windows Explorer. Let the funeral dirge begin.....

It's not bad, in terms of speed. But there is one more thing that the Google-ites have to do to spark any real interest in Chrome:
make it MUCH more customizable.
For instance, why can't you turn OFF the download bar that appears at the bottom of the browser? It's annoying and takes up too much space.
The "Options" part of Chrome strikes me as way too incomplete. More choices, please....

Organizing bookmarks does not seem to be easy. I see a 'Link' toolbar with shortcuts to all all links I use and no option to remove this tool bar. If I hide the toolbar, the bookmarks shortcut also gets hidden.

“I knew that as soon as Google Chrome launched, some readers would ask tough questions about privacy and how/when Google Chrome communicates with google.com,” he wrote. “I talked to the Chrome team to find out if there’s anything to worry about. The short answer is no.”

Your blog would be vastly more informative if you would be willing to share the long answer.

Ok so what about the ULA? I have read that anything created on Chrome becomes the intelectual property of Google. If this is true why would I post my blogs or pictures vis this portal? I think they may have gone to far with this...

How does it compare to Firefox, which is a superior product to IE anyways?

Opera is good but did not listen to my suggestions.
I can Opera search in 10 tabs, Try Google for a hundred ?

Google says it wanted to create a web browser that would be fast and handle scripting languages, such as JavaScript or AJAX,

1) AJAX is not a scripting language.

2) You might want to seem a little less biased.

3) It might be nice to note which other browsers communicate with their host company's sites.

In test i saw It is about 10 times faster than firefox and 100-1000x faster then ie. Congrats on efficient programming!

I will get it as soon as it supports third party add-ons. I cant live without my stumble or a few convenient tools that Firefox can have.

I used Chrome for a couple of days before removing it from my computer. As a general computer user, I prefer Explorer 7, which is reliable, fast, and works ubiquitously at all sites.

meh. not on the mac, so no big deal... =P

I just started using Chrome a couple days ago and although it's faster, it doesn't seem to be faster to the point of making it your default web browser. In addition, I agree that the download tabs which appear at the bottom are definitely annoying and that the bookmark system is a little 'off' in that it's not user friendly. As for the tabs which appear above the address bar for each page-that just seems to be google's way of mimicking firefox but ensuring it doesn't emulate it exactly.

Yes, Chrome could very will become the dominate Web Browser out there if Google truly can pull off everything that they want to do with Web Based Applications.

But first.

Google has to learn to start supporting older Operating Systems, especially ones like Windows 2000.

Chrome, at present, does not support Win2K and that alone is locking out a huge field of businesses that are still heavily dependent on Win2K for their everyday work; many of whom could upgrade to newer OS's but probably haven't yet due to costs, or compatibility issues. There are some companies with thousands of computers in their offices, all running individual copies of Microsoft applications and they could be saving "hundreds of thousands" of dollars if Google would just support business OS's like Win2K; especially with its OpenOffice downloads!

Many businesses can not upgrade yet from Win2K; because their business software has not yet moved on and still requires 2K. Mine for example is still heavily reliant on a Sales Database that was designed under Win95, migrated into Win98, through the MSAccess application of MSOffice; and through Win98, migrated to Win2K. But the backend files to make the database work, are not compatible with newer incarnations of Windows such as XP. If my company were to upgrade to such an OS, we would lose 10 years worth in Sales history and customer information!

We were hoping to find an answer through Googles efforts in Office software, by hoping that through such we'de have a means of migrating out of Win2k and into something newer and more stable. But since Google refuses to support Win2K, we can't.

We're also not the only ones in this position, as there are thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands all over the world in this exact same position!

Google, is also headed for a train wreck by offering support for Windows Vista. Microsoft has already stated that Vista will be canceled and discontinued NEXT YEAR! Possibly late 2009.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista#Reception

Refer to the third paragraph that specifically states many businesses are planning to skip their upgrade to Vista, in favor of the anticipated next incarnation of Windows... Which Microsoft is already working on, a new OS that they call Windows 7!

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7

So by supporting Vista, Google at present is supporting a failed product whose producer has already stated will be discontinued in the near future and many businesses are refusing to support or upgrade too!

If Google truly wants to establish itself as a direct comptetitor to Microsoft, then Google needs to start support Microsofts older OS's which will open itself up to a much, much larger customer base... because though Microsoft's figures may show an increasing trend to newer software, the truth of that matter is... Microsoft isn't giving people any choice when they buy a new brand name computer.

Just go to Best Buy right now, today, and try to buy a Laptop with Windows XP. You can't. Microsoft refuses to sell it. Microsoft is counting their figures based on the newer brand name computers sold with Vista; but they're NOT counting the number of people who still have older computers that are still running things like Win2K or WinXP; which number far, far higher then most suspect!

Google needs to open its arms to those people!!

I see some issues raised that should be addressed... First, the original EULA that was there on day 1 of the beta release has been substantially changed. No more draconian mention of "if you post it, it's ours". Second, I haven't found a single site that works in IE and not in Chrome. It even works perfectly with Outlook Web Access, something FF can't do. Third, which other browsers communicate with their host companies sites? How about all of 'em...

I'm a software developer who does plenty of web work, so browsers matter to me. As browsers gain market share, they get my attention since not all browsers adhere to published standards. From what I can see, Chrome will quickly gain market share...even in beta. I really don't like seeing that as I'd much prefer market share not take off until proper vetting has taken place. As Chrome has already exceeded Opera in market share, I don't think we'll be afforded that luxury. All I can say is it's good to see more real competition in any software market.

I have had some problems wth Chrome not displaying news sites (CNN, Fox) correctly. I need to reload the page, and then it's OK, until I leave and return. I will experiment with it, but – for now – IE7 and Opera are my 2 main browsers.

A good, fast browser. Not enough features for me to switch from Firefox, but the two browsers will share space on my computer, and I plan on continuing use of both.

But, from other sources, both Firefox and Chrome appear to be worse off at handling the load from multiple tabs running flash websites than, surprisingly, IE8, not that I plan on ever going back to IE.

your all kidding yourself if you think that Google will not be collecting data and selling it to government and private agencies...we've already seen that they have in the past sold users information to the FBI.

Wait till google add more stuffs into this lighting fast browser and you will see the performance degrade. they don't support addon at this time on purpose, they want to make sure Chome is the superfast tio start getting some traction and then only then they will bring in a new version that will support more stuffs but won't be that fast

Eventually mac will be McDonaled. Sludge hammer, freshen to useful.
The dead ones, starved by Apple operating systems long ago abandoned

"I have had some problems wth Chrome not displaying news sites (CNN, Fox)" Google holding to standards, web page made by some MicroConfusion software. Same CNN problem with Opera, pointed out. but CNN sleeping at the MicroSoft advertising switch.

It's behavior with *.mht files is strange. It won't open them directly. Instead, it makes a copy of them in a recently used directory (without any direction from me as to which to choose, or whether I WANT to take that action), and then it displays them. Also, I frequently have to update or edit web documents and repost them. But Chrome won't currently let me directly take a document from the screen to Word, for example, for editing.

It's fast – very fast. If I could directly port from it to Office or other applications w/o intermediate steps, that would be a huge plus.

Its a decent browser, considering it is in preliminary testing stages. I had some technical problems with it (would not play embedded videos, some crashes on websites) and some personal problems (is the only way to get to your bookmarks to set a new tab, then go to the browser page that shows your bookmarks? cause if so, thats just way too many steps). Will I be switching from firefox? Most likely not, as it didn't really seem faster, and I am use to firefox's layout. Will I tell people its a better alternative to IE? I tell people anything other than safari is a better alternative to IE, so I guess thats a yes.

Not so different in my opinion. Cant anyone test these days?
I do not trust google on not gather my info, so I hesitated some, but had to at try it.
Short story 15 minutes – 15 "issues/bugs". Did I report them... NO
Why? What's in it for me if I do. Plus ALA Microsoft world, yeah, like that is going to get fixed if I report it. Who listens to ME!! And they might make it worse. Let me give you a "taste of my issues"
Sure they may be reported, too difficult to "search" for them and that incentive is not there to do it. My only incentive is that it MIGHT get fixed. Note they are not step by step details, nor did I try to reproduce the issue, and what is worse, I really did not TRY to find them they just stood out quite easily.
1. First issue... Somewhere as I downloaded the installer or installed it there was a statement something like "it will only take a few seconds to install". I have DSL cable it took 3 – 5 minutes. Still not a bad amount of time, but why say seconds and not the reality. So now I do not trust their estimations (or them altogether to some degree)
2. Hence my second issue. Well upon completion of my install there is the classic – Launch Now or Cancel option. Well I do not trust them, so I Click Cancel button... Guess what happened.....Sure it LAUNCHES.....oops...tester missed that one.
3. Well I still at least wanted to open it to use it despite my dwindling trust factor, I start noticing lack of features that IE and Firefox have immediately. A little taste there... where the heck is the Favorites editor/manager? They pulled a Microsoft Office 2008 trick and hid the Exit option (at least they kept the X button so I used that)
4. Last issue .... You know that little X on the tab... Well most users might not expect the WHOLE browser to close when you click it (AKA firefox still remains open).
5. Ooh I forgot a doozy.... they have "sessioning" or something like that in the Chrome... Well just try opening multiple sessions of Chrome browsers (no not tabs), and close one,.... save your stuff first cause it is going to close ALL instances (WITHOUT WARNING)

Nice logo though.... (kinda looks like a balled up MIcrosoft logo though... Maybe they should have made it "Chrome" colored...instead....LOL

Hey I can almost guaranteed to find 100 – 200 issues in a month if I tried,,,, why waste my time. The others are less buggy...... THAT is my incentive,,, avoid the problem,, until IE and firefox start getting too buggy and I try something new.

-ps- I did find a problem that ALL THREE browsers have still not fixed... Maybe OPERA....

-casey

Organizing bookmarks is a pain. When my bookmarks were imported, the separator lines disappeared. I also didn't like the Google frame on the window. Use the standard frame. It is so much easier on the eyes. The internals of the browser are fantastic, but Google just needs to improve the user interface a bit. Not bad...

the only issue I have is that my sound stops working within the google chrome browser itself after a short while..making me have to switch to another broswer.

Using Opera, I like the 3 level isolation. M$ operating, Browser, Google bar.
Your ISP, KGB, CIA, IRS, NSA, Google .. ..want to track and profile you.

If Google had a maximum privacy option, maximum cash. Other browsers dead.
Just https (port 443) google recommended, first search displayed.
Maybe only after Google moved overseas ?

Then again, Opera could use more cash.

Is a "beta" copy available?

Thanks, RCM

I've been using it for the past couple of days now, and I must say that I like it. It has a lot of potential, at the moment, and I'm hoping by the end of next week plugins begin coming out, so I can customize a bit.

The few skins that have come out are pretty, but then, I enjoy the minimalistic view.

So far, I've had no problems running anything, it even displays a bit better than FF.

I am actually using it as my default for the moment, as the ads aren't bugging me, and it just looks clean.

It has mouse drag cursor to select, right click, Google search in new tab.
Needs to add, right click, search in the displayed page.

Opera has neither, but if Opera ever do, switch or not ?
Color pretty, but not heavy duty search ready.

Sorry, but without plugin support, the browser is useless to web developers accustomed to the various debugging plugins available in FireFox. My company also uses a Java plugin to get customer signatures and to fax and print information, so we won't be supporting it at this time.

Try IE8 beta 2, its got lots of really cool features over IE7, is very stable so far, and in my non official judgement on speed and stability versus firefox3 and chrome, I see very little difference at all between the browsers.

So if chrome loads a page .05 seconds faster than IE8, so be it, but thats not going to make me leave a browser that just WORKS with everything, while all other browsers support a subset of web technologies. Especially when IE8 actually will comply to web standards finally, but still allow rendering in the IE7 engine when you need it for a non standards compliant page.

If IE runs slow for you, then maybe try turning off lots of the crap addons that OTHER companies install when you install their products. Don't blame MS for that. IE8 actually makes it much easier than even IE7 to manage what 3rd party stuff is running in the browser. Flash is probably the worst offender (to any browser).

Chrome is just a vehicle to shove all of google's other services down your throat, so they can index everything you ever do on a computer.

verrrry good

Chrome on my computer (5 yr old laptop) is quite notably faster than Firefox or IE7, for CNN and other fairly busy sites. Yes, it needs to be more customizable, but I'll cut it some slack on that as an early beta. I find the basic workings pretty comfortable.

But – Java doesn't seem to work. I often look at the National Weather Service weather radar loops, which use Java, and Chrome just says "plugin not available" (even though I downloaded the new Java beta plugin as recommended at the Google help site).

The bigger "But" is that I got a blue-screen-of-death after using it for a day. It's only the second time I've seen the blue screen on this 5 year old machine. And I wasn't looking at particularly complicated or challenging sites, or many at a time. A web search turned up other complaints of the same problem. Since Google is bragging about the stability of this browser, such a total crash shouldn't be happening so easily even in a beta release.

Sometimes, the profiling allows serving of useful and desired advertising.
When the SassyFoot surogate, with shaved and tatooed earlobes shows up, howling to announce, I am ready. My internet sex education googlings, the faith becomes the reality. The sex secrets are bare, out of the google assemblage. Was initially embarrashed, but now, the neighbors want to know my dirty secret urls.

I don't know what the fuss is all about. Chrome is ugly, and it couldn't even handle a simple scrollable DIV on a few of the websites I use everyday!

This is the "best" you can do, Google?

Slimbrowser rules ALL... best tabbed browser out there and customizability is off the charts!!!

I have been using Chrome for about four hours and I LOVE it! Wish that I could CHOOSE the "most viewed" pages that launch on the initial launch of the browser and each new tab. I understand its your most viewed but instead of that, it should be, preferred web site or something along that lines. This is the only fault i have had with it. It runs everything i do, REALLY well! I love this browser!

I always thought the Internet was just slow, it was 'busy". I was shocked by how fast pages were loading in Chrome. Now I know the Internet or my connection wasn't the culprit, it was because Window's Internet Explorer was slow. It was the browser all along.

Thank you Google for Chrome! Your company may not be perfect, but I appreciate you offering something fresh and new, and better!

Amazing speed...

Chrome is so basic that it becomes unusable by today's standards. There are so few options you can control that the browser can't do much for you. Speed wise, it is not any faster than Firefox. Even though it is at an early stage, provided Google's experience, I had foreseen a far more mature product. With products like Chrome and Internet Explorer to compete with it, Firefox has got no reasons to fear.

When I fired up my computer this morning, Chrome was gone. Completely gone, not incognito. I searched around for a while, nothing. Error logs, nothing. I went to the Chrome tech support pages and found nothing mentioned about Chrome having a propensity or an uncontrollable urge to auto uninstall now and then. (And, yes, I was sober when I shut down last night.)

Fast but very ugly.
Really do not like the way it organises bookmarks, favourites,
I'll stick with IE for the time being.
lots of work to do.

I like it.

Your CNN video shows a MAC user using Chrome.... but Chrome doesn't work on the MAC, and the browser is actually firefox.

Pretty funny.

Frank

BTW, the background-process googleupdater.exe, continued to run on my machine even after I uninstalled; generally the uninstall left a lot of traces in the registry and on the harddisk. googleupdater.exe was installed under documents and settings !; interesting place for an installation, isn't it?

I guess the techie community must have slept-in during their Business 101 classes. For a company to stay in business, they must make money. Do we all believe there is an Internet God which bestows upon us free Google applications?

A business can't offer a whole line of free products without income of some sort. Google search engine is the very best at collecting the word's surfing habits and now with another Google owned EXE residing on our computer, just about anything can be collected. Smile, you're on Candid Camera.

Not ready for prime time...
I gave it an honest try and it shows promise. I'm not crazy about the user look and feel, it's not as polished as other browsers out there. It's still Beta so there will probably be enhancements. The apps will come soon enough. I uninstalled and will stick with Firefox (which also had startup issues) for now.

"Google says it wanted to create a web browser that would be fast and handle scripting languages, such as JavaScript or AJAX"

I use AJAX extensively. AJAX is not a scripting language. It is a technology for using remote scripting to send/receive data to/from the current page without navigating to a new page.

The real competition is with MisroSoft. ChromeHorse, take the desktop ower, leave just the dry bone. MicroDeveceBugDriver owner left, wrong footed salesman. Bill Gates, second hand shoes, from a goodwill store, that is reason, back from retirement ?

Next ad: Bill Gates asks, can you spare $5 My soles have holes in it.

If the "short answer" is no, then I'm scared about the long answer. Google is the Goliath of advertising, it would be naive to think they aren't retrieving at least some data from this.

Out of the ChromeHorse will come, automatic applications, updates, PerpetualPandora. Still left is Spy on you Reality, not Chromed over by the Google, the more advanced civilization. then Desire, Hope for Privacy.

Multiple Encription to extreme privacy,
Can a lost SassyFoot, bare it all, to only those she intended.

I tried the new Chrome. Don't like it. It could not import my Favorites from Internet Explorer. It is not user friendly. Not intuitive. No real advantage.

I agree that this article is painfully biased. "There is a good chance that someday in the near future this is the browser we all will be using." Right. I've heard that about Firefox for years, and they're up to... what?... 10% of the market? Maybe?

And the quoted author: "they have finally delivered what might be the perfect end all of the browser wars." What sensible tech writer would declare *anything* in the world of technology the "perfect end all" anything? Crazy.

So far, Chrome is not a game-changer. It's just another browser with a slightly different approach than the rest. And at the moment, it has too many bugs to be useful.

Looks pretty, add lots of right click functionality, and the microsoft icon, got to have more, similarity. Trojan Horse warriors, out come virtual spybots, termites, eating your privacy. Opera, please come out of hiding, or Shiva will eat Gaia privacy.

Chrome stopped responding several times in last 1day. Since all pages are in tabs..i cannot access any site when its hung and suddenly one tab will close and things will become normal for sometime.

Google Chrome might be 100times faster than IE but do i require it. It may be good for scientists but for a normal user like me IE works. I dont see any difference when I access cnn.com in IE and Chrome.

For now, IE is my default browser.

I have been working with Chrome all weekend and found it to be quick and simple. A couple of problems ...

Can't scroll up with my mouse.

A couple of times, it just went dark and crashed.

Would be nice if you more could more easily save bookmarks on top bar and in the bookmark menu (copy/paste as needed???). Could use more setup and configure options.

Not quite ready for prime and I will stay with Firefox and keep up with Chrome impovements

Interesting no one mentions Maxthon for comparison. I am a freqent maxthon user at home, IE at office, safari on my iphone and firefox every now and then. Chrome is definitely faster than all of them but there are certain improvements they can make by looking at maxthon.

"The short answer is no."

PLEASE Share the long answer.

Chrome 10 times faster than Firefox? I don't think so. It might start displaying sooner, but I can see the status bar flickering through all the elements.
Is kind of shocking when I use Chrome: I'm getting all the ads that Firefox/Adblock hides. Also, the mouse gesture is not available and that I use approx.... all the time. The 'colorful tabs' are excellent in Firefox, while Chrome is just 'too Chrome' 🙂

well, i used the chrome as well. its impressive. but i also was disturbed by the download bar. can you make it a little bit thin in size. like i hair line being filled as it downloads.

and as i beleive, a newly launched browser will have both bright and dark corners.

hey chrome team, all the best. bright it up. i'm with you. 🙂

For the newest kid on the block, it has learned very little from the other guys! Fast and sleek is great, but I like to set my browser up the way I like it – tabs where, how I want them – options, like asking if I want to save tabs on exiting, double-check if I want to exit. The big thing to me is "customization", not the way some geek in Google figured I would like it – too bad, so sad – back to the other guys for now!

I agree that the browser is impressive. But did you actually read the EULA? I'm no lawyer, but it looks to me that Google says they can do whatever they want with any information you enter into their browser. It is a little concerning. How do you reconcile the language in the EULA to their "do no evil" vision?

The speed of Google Chrome is amazing, however the lack of features turned me off. I hope that this being just a beta they will roll out with some better features and add some unique items to the web browser itself. Intergraded social bookmarking anyone? 😉

[url=http://www.civicseo.com]Search Engine Optimization[/url]

It is very good in most ways except for the fact it is based on the very lame Safari browser. The most obvious problem is the way it decides on fonts. When I go to a forum or blog and every successive post is in a smaller font than before so the fourth comment is unreadable, I am forced to stop using it altogether.

Agree. I've been using chrome for the last 3 days and its very fast and stable. Loading is very quick and i feel that this will now be my primary browser. I love the privacy mode, but the one aspect i'm enjoying the most is the ability to have hot buttons at the top to go directly to my favorite websites. I also like the fact that i can see a bunch of the websites i've recently surfed when i initially access the browser and its just legible enough for me to kinda pick and choose which website i want to go to next. Very impressed with just a beta.

Chrome has a Privacy Porn Mode. Does not store persistent, identifiable information on your computer. Steve Gibson (security expert) says each tab is sandboxed to itself, however, plugin could breach outside. Only Safary browser handles 3rd party cookies well, Google does not

Google and Yahoo gave out trace info to Chinese Law Politically Incorrect Enforcement. Trust needs to be proved, not just earned now.

Open source project, means every programmer can easily hop on board.
The fast, also open source, java engine runs everywhere, Linux to cell phone, gone is Vista to the annals of history ? The deep significance is the platform to launch all google cloud computing efforts. Establish the beachead, and microsoft is soon cloud surrounded. Death by a thousand clouds.

The all java port, coming soonest, on which cell phone ?

I was left w/ a so-so impression of the program. Not bad, but not impressive enough to draw me away from Firefox 3.

One thing that kinda drew my attention was that SOMETHING accessed all of my hard drives during the quick install of the program, which makes me a little suspicious.

Fast? Yes... it'll make your eyes water it's so fast.

Compact, sleek, agile are all good words too but the last word is in the EULA.

I have a lot of doubts whether many people, especially the young, truly appreciate what privacy is. It is something of an abstract concept that they could have experienced once or twice when Mom or Dad may have gone through their dresser drawers... or eavesdropped on a phone call. Of course, that's not what privacy is about.

Another issue is trust and Google has never played that field to win. But as far as that goes, neither has Microsoft, Yahoo or even Apple.

On topic: I really like Chrome but I don't want Google in my hip pocket going through my wallet... or in my life sniffing my bedsheets.

At least for now, no thanks.

Definitely Beta. Very buggy in table rendering particularly, but thats expected in a new product. This will only be a great browser if we do not have to do any special coding to make things work in it. I have seen several pages that won't render perfectly, but not bad for a beta.

Google needs to make the Chrome incognito tab sets (under Options/Add) work. They don't save the tabset for Incognito the way the regular (non-icognito) Chrome browser works.

Installing on a PC does not install for all users of the PC, and then it has to be separately downloaded and installed one at a time on each user.

Other browsers like Firefox3, Safari and IE all install across users, just from one download and install.

Why even release it ?

My roommate loaded Chrome on his laptop this weekend. He said it was quicker than IE, but, ironically, would not load content from either Facebook or YouTube, both of which are owned by Google.

The security issue, ISP spying, profiling, arose in England
Laws were strong there, but not well the politicians understood.
The concern, in US, with weaker laws, quickly conducted failure of
several spy hardware, for ISP companies.

Law mandated, prevention of strong encription, hindered US business,
No Such Agency Relented, as business shifted from American shores.

Similar unfolding of events, in the quest for privacy ?

My experience (Your Mileage May Vary):

The installer works, and it's fast. It took under a minute. No issues.

The browser could use better access to bookmarks, but that's a fairly small issue so far and I can wait for the solution. The inconvenience of crashing browsers (IE, FF) is far greater.

It's fast. As fast as Opera. It loads pages like lightning, so it immediately replaced Opera as my second browser.

When I save an image under FireFox, it takes nearly a minute. Using Chrome (or Opera), it's effectively instantaneous. Think about this: it takes FF a minute to save an image, and being a single task and single thread I can't do ANYTHING with it while I'm waiting for it to save an image it's already displayed! For this reason alone it has replaced FireFox as my primary browser.

Only one plug-in dependent feature has failed to load so far.

Not only can I switch tabs while a page is loading (something FireFox cannot do), I had a hard time finding a page that took long enough to load for me to actually test this.

The technical advantages of multitasking, from both stability and privacy points of view, are astounding, but the usability and performance it brings to the browser delights to behold. I've been complaining about single-tasking browsers for a long time now. Years, in fact. Someone finally heeded my laments.

Good job, Google – this is a great start! I've never liked pre-1.0 beta software before, let alone liked it enough to replace "mature" applications I'm already used to using.

Secretive, Insecure, and Spying. Background phoning home
Extremely ram hungry, underfeatured, no privacy controls
Exploits already found, some undocumented fixes in open source software

First time bad impression. Borrowed market share from Firefox.
Gave it back. Tried it, my reaction confirmed, ready to delete.

Listen to: Security Now Steve Gibson http://twit.tv/sn

Fast? Yes, but not by that much. Smooth? Sure, but not that smooth. Secure? That depends on what you mean by "secure." Is my bank account password more secure? Hmm... I don't really know, do I? We're talking about Google here, folks!

And, can I be an adult and browse wherever I damn well choose without worrying my family or friends are gonna stumble onto my most private bookmarks and favorite places to go? Absolutely not!!! Look, Google, and listen up... The internet is a dirty place. If I choose to go on an adventure, I don't need a map the next day of where I've been. I need a box of condoms! Chrome is like a condom with a hole in it. In a few weeks, everyone knows where you've been.

Whenever I click a New Tab, my latest adventures on the web are displayed for all to see. Adding insult to injury, they never even considered that users would want to edit that feature. That should have been one of the first and most important goals!

"Incognito mode" seems like an afterthought when it should be the default mode for browsing. In the face of ever increasing worries about privacy and information abuse, Google's behavior is frustrating but not surprising. They claim they want to give the customer a wonderful end experience but let's be honest; that would entail smooth, seamless, intuitive, PRIVATE web-browsing that doesn't need a seperate window to be created. I think Google is banking on the fact that we're all getting real lazy about what's being stored on our computers and Google's data banks. And they are right.

Finally, Chrome may isolate the processes so that a crashed page does not necessarily crash the entire browser but in the week that I had it installed on my computer, it would either become completely unresponsive to mouse clicks or lock up the entire computer instead. Shortly thereafter, my family started experiencing weird errors and hiccups. I ended up reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling Win XP (SP3)! Back to IE7 for me.

I love the company but not everything they do is for my benefit. To act like they didn't know privacy was gonna be such a big issue is disingenuous at best. Cynical at worst. Chrome is cute but not yet ready for prime time. Keep working on it folks! I'll check back in a month.

Oh, yeah... Fonts suck too! And the bookmarks.

Secret Swiss bankers need to offer the most secretive browser.
Bring in Buddhist Monks to verify, spread the encription keys around all religions

Problem is NSA will start waterboarding all faiths, including atheists.

No link to all of my Google Bookmarks.....THUMBS DOWN until that is resolved...what were you thinking!??! Web access to them is aweful....

+ VERY FAST, very compatable with 90+% of the sites I viewed
+ Incognito....nuff said =)

– No Google bookmarks......(just in case Google didn't catch my disappointment)

– don't keep the last "save directory" when downloading – if you navigate once, you'll navigate for the next, then the next, ..., ....

– no way to create shortcuts on desktop and all of the other cool right-click things that IE is able to do.

– want to be able to add more buttons to toolbar...I don't need a 800pixel wide address bar ALL the time...

+ Last visited
– Can't customize last visited

+ Downloaded...could be smaller, but it didn't bug me that much

+ View source formatting
+ Popup handling is nice, a little obtrustive though

(side note...why do Google's toolbar links on their webpages never what you use most often?? I use gmail, maps, documents, and images...is it too much to ask to always have these listed without having to do "More->"??)

It really would be nice if CNN would get their videos working with Google Chrome.... or should Google get Chrome working with CNN Video? Either way... it would be great if it just worked.

"Chrome does keep a part of itself running all the time, even if you're not using the browser. And every few hours it phones home to see whether there's anything important has happened"

Kill Chrome Kill.
Would you let pornsite software, secretly installed, compromise your Banking ?

Good Article! Quick read and informative.