Google Chrome: A new, open source web browser

motivez · 09-02-2008, 07:06 PM

Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows

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

Download Google Chrome

For Windows Vista/XP

One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.
Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.
Shortcuts for your apps
Get desktop shortcuts to launch your favorite web applications.

Learn about Google Chrome »

Google Chrome - Download a new browser

Pretty neat. I'm in the process of checking it out now.. I like the tabs on the top, it feels more intuitive than being on the bottom.

Dumpy Dooby · 09-02-2008, 07:35 PM

Dragging the tab to create a new window is nice as well.

The lack of smooth scrolling makes me nauseous, and it still feels a bit prototypical. You can tell they hadn't intended on releasing it just yet. Apparently websites that do browser checks in their javascript functions are getting confused and misjudging what this browser is capable of. Hopefully amateur web developers will learn a lesson that's been pushed for quite some time now: check for functionality, not the browser. Even vBulletin made this same mistake in some of the older v3.x releases of their default theme.

For those that didn't catch wind of the news yesterday: Google sent out some media with information on Chrome. It arrived in mailboxes yesterday (mail gets delivered on Labor Day?), and folks started scanning it and posting on their blogs. Google took down the Chrome website, and they release an official hasted announcement on their own blog. They said that they would wait until today to release but that they hadn't planned on releasing it until (I think it was) October 10th.

The browser feels solid. I dig it. And it's fast as Hell, which is nice. I like the native Firebug-esque functionality. I'll definitely make use of that. Can't wait for more options to be implemented.

Dumpy Dooby · 09-02-2008, 07:41 PM

When you uninstall, it asks, "WAS IT SOMETHING WE SAID??"

ArrestMeRedZ28 · 09-02-2008, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Pretty neat. I'm in the process of checking it out now.. I like the tabs on the top, it feels more intuitive than being on the bottom.

It's very nice with a small laptop like my 12.1" XPS. It allows more precious web page space on my small screen.

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 10:00 AM

I'm reading the little comic book thing now to see what it does. I hadn't heard about it until yesterday. Anyone using it yet?

Google Chrome

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 10:11 AM

Browsing with it now. First thing I found out was it won't play my Sirius radio through their website. Everything looks right but I'm not getting any sound.

Ardentfrost · 09-03-2008, 11:14 AM

Man, I thought that comic style looked familiar. In this (stupid) comic book class I took, it was Scott McCloud (the creator of that Google comic) that the prof used to introduce us to the styles and intricacies of comics as a method of representation. He has written multiple (comic) books about that.

Anyhow, I tried to download Chrome yesterday and everytime I clicked "download now" it just kicked me back over to the "Learn more" page. I'll try to download again later.

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 11:16 AM

Here you go

Google Chrome - Download a new browser

Ardentfrost · 09-03-2008, 11:16 AM

Just so everyone is aware... got this from /.

Originally Posted by Chrome's User Agreement

"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."

EDIT: This has been removed from the EULA by Google

Ardentfrost · 09-03-2008, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

Here you go

Google Chrome - Download a new browser

omg, it's still doing it!

Maybe it doesn't install on Linux yet?

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

omg, it's still doing it!

Maybe it doesn't install on Linux yet?

No, it doesn't. Vista/XP only.

Ardentfrost · 09-03-2008, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

No, it doesn't. Vista/XP only.

Probably why it's doing that then. Detects my OS and kicks me out of the download area.

motivez · 09-03-2008, 01:42 PM

Wow... that's impressive

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Wow... that's impressive

I guess we are looking at some kind of speed format here and not load times?

motivez · 09-03-2008, 03:41 PM

It's a benchmark, so higher is better performance.. I have a feeling Firefox will be adopting this back end sometime in the future..

Apparently I can't switch to a WYSIWYG editor on the forums with this browser though, kinda strange.

Dispatcher · 09-03-2008, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by Stylerod

I'm reading the little comic book thing now to see what it does. I hadn't heard about it until yesterday. Anyone using it yet?

Google Chrome

I am using it right now. it is really fast. It did crash on me once, but this is the beta version.

Stylerod · 09-03-2008, 10:31 PM

I was on OT in a .gif thread and there were probably 60-80 gifs in there and it killed Chrome. It was still running but it was so slow. Everyone in there who was using Chrome was getting the same thing. memory usage for that tab showed 400meg! Even the smilies were running slow.

Ardentfrost · 09-03-2008, 10:48 PM

Ok, trying it out now on my laptop. Websites that check for browser instead of capabilities suck... which includes my work webmail system.

it's still rough around the edges... and I don't think I've used it enough to really show the benefits.

I do a lot of javascript programming, so I look forward to testing how my programs work on the browser.

Dumpy Dooby · 09-03-2008, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

Just so everyone is aware... got this from /.

Can you edit your post to say that this has been retracted? It would suck for people to see this thread and be turned off from Chrome because of what they believe to be in the EULA. Google removed this from the EULA in less than 24 hours.

Ardentfrost · 09-04-2008, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

Can you edit your post to say that this has been retracted? It would suck for people to see this thread and be turned off from Chrome because of what they believe to be in the EULA. Google removed this from the EULA in less than 24 hours.

Didn't know that. I'll adjust it