September 8, 2008

Was Google Chrome released a little too early?

So this week saw Google release its own browser, Chrome.  But did they rush it and is it worthing downloading?

Google Chrome logoNow Chrome is built upon Webkit and Firefox 3 as well as the new JavaScript V8 virtual machines from Denmark.  The V8 enables each of its tabs to run independently, so if something causes a crash in one tab the whole browser will keep going. The Webkit/Firefox combo keeps the whole thing web standards friendly.

Tech aside, in my opinion I think it was a little rushed.   As soon as the comic was made public extolling the virtues of Chrome, people were clamoring for it, which is great.  But as soon as the downloads started so did the questions.
As of Sept. 4th Chrome had already taken 6% of the market.  So is this the IE killer we've been waiting for?  Well Paul Boag has a good post on  that which I agree with a lot of.  I personally don't think this version is, but a later version? Maybe.

The problem (as Paul points out) is a lot of people still think of the internet as that little "blue e" and would never think of using anything else - why should they?  This is still the battle Firefox faces.  The thing on Google's side is its apps (being touted on TV commercials for C2) which Chrome will probably join soon, and offering it on their own homepage.

So should you download it?  Yes, I think so.  Anything that can improve your web experience is a good thing and so far it's run pretty well on our old laptop and my shiny new one but it hasn't replaced Flock as my default.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Google Co-founder says lack of Chrome for Mac is "embarassing,":
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/09/04/google-cofounder-on-lack-of-mac-chrome-browser-its-embarrassing/

Linda Nawrocki said...

I would loved to have used it but it crashed almost every time I opened it on vista