| 03 Sep 2008 - A NEW BROWSER IS BORN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Another normal every day term has just been GOOGLED... CHROME - normally associated with the shiny metal bits on a car or appliance, now means "Google's Web Browser" First there was Netscape (well not FIRST, but certainly the first big one), then there was Internet Explorer, Then there was Firefox, and Apple's Safari (not essentially in that order).... NOW, there is CHROME - Google Chrome Google Chrome came to fame in the last couple of days after someone 'accidentally hit send' on a posting to the internet which showed a 30+ page comic book, which outlines the concept and creation of the Google Browser project. Tech savvy people will LOVE the comic because it talks about threads and scripting and all these wonderful things which the average 'joe's' out there frankly don't know, OR CARE about. What we want is a fast browsing experience. I've downloaded Google Chrome (www.google.com.au/chrome), and it's great. A fresh new look, continuing the TAB theme of having several sites open at once, but the big change for me in 'looks' is the disappearance of the top window identification. That top 5mm or so of screen space which shows you the icon and name of the software you are using - normally showing "Trevor Long - Mozilla Firefox" for example. Google have used this space for the tabs, a very good use of space (especially for me on my ASUS EEEPC which has a very narrow screen). The Comic book that launched the browser early is split into five sections covering stability; speed; search and the user experience, security, and standards. Here's a bit of a look at those key features: Stability Each tab will run's its own process. Processes are be isolated from each other, can be killed from the operating system's process manager. What that means for YOU, is that when you have say FIVE websites open, each in a different tab in Firefox or Internet Explorer. If you have a problem with one, and it crashes, you close the LOT. With Chrome - CTRL ALT DEL allows you to see a chrome.exe listed for EACH TAB. My first question is how do we work out which one is which... that aside, it's a brilliant concept. Speed Chrome is written with WebKit, the open source at the heart of Apple's Safari browser. The concept here is that this is the fastest open source out there. Apple have laid a lot on that claim, so we will soon see when some boffins do some lab testing. My basic tests show it is a little faster, but really, a millisecond here and there, does it matter? I'm not sure Searching and the user experience In Chrome, the browser tabs are more than just movable, you can drag them out to create a whole new standalone window. This is best placed for APPLICATIONS - like Google Docs, or Mail, you can drag them out and have your own window for those things - you see that is where this is all heading, no more software. You buy a PC, with an operating system, and you install CHROME and you don't need word, excel, outlook, photoshop - online versions of ALL are available, and being developed day by day. The ADDRESS bar is new, and has that Firefox style HELP prompting, start typing trev... and it will show trevorlong.com perhaps if you've been here before or if it's a popular site. Likewise, type WORDS up there - US ELECTION and it will use that as a SEARCH BOX, and return google search results (or others if you choose to customise the search) There is also a new type of 'home page' which shows your MOST VISITED SITES as large screenshots. Very cool. Security Because each website, or tab runs as it's own process it cannot access other processes on the computer, making is much more secure. Standards Chrome will be an open source project. Interestingly, at the end of the comic book, Google pay's tribute to Mozilla and Webkit, two open source projects that lead the way to this happening in reality. Look, Firefox has not TAKEN THE WORLD BY STORM, at best 20% of all internet users are using it. Internet Explorer is EXTREMELY DOMINANT, and it will take a LOT to break that dominance. But i guess if anyone can do it, Google can! DOWNLOAD TODAY - www.google.com/chrome Let me know what you think | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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