Google Chrome

Post by **betajaen** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:03 pm

First post from Google Chrome.

Man this browser is fast, I love the tab above the buttons (which how it should of been in the first place), and I think Google are geniuses for using WebKit than Gecko as a rendering engine. WebKit is complies with the W3 specifications way better than Gecko, and I'm glad a real Windows version is out now (Safari for Windows doesn't count).

I think it will be interesting on how they will approach standard features in modern browsers such as plugins and making the User interface customisable.

leonardoaraujo.santos · Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:12 pm

Hi betajaen I've installed here in my machine and it works great! Very nice browser indeed

Post by **CABAListic** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:28 pm

Well, it's going to be interesting how Chrome will stir up the browser market. Personally, though, Google is beginning to scare me (kind of), I'm not sure I really want to use yet another Google product

Caphalor · Post by **Caphalor** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:04 pm

Chrome looks nice and is fast, but I'm missing something like adblock plus and in addition to that, it is not possible to scroll by pressing the mouse wheel.

I will stick to firefox.

Post by **haffax** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:13 pm

Chrome has a nice layout indeed.
No smooth scrolling option and on some pages scrolling up/down fast feels very laggy (try it in gmail with a folder with lots of mails in it). Also flash seems to be a lot slower than in firefox? At least this is my subjective impression. Maybe this is because of their plugin insulation scheme by running it in a separate process.

But javascript heavy pages like gmail are much faster than in firefox, save for the scrolling issue.

But overall I can't imagine switching from firefox, because of all the addons I grew used to.

Evak · Post by **Evak** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:31 pm

Google are definitely trying to become the new Microsoft, something that I find a bit scary. Looks like they want to take over by dominating the internet and having online apps that compete with browsers, MS office, the map thing and I don't know what else.

But they do seem to be trying to sink their fingers into every facet of our lives these days.

reptor · Post by **reptor** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:07 pm

There are some "data mining"-like features which apparently must be disabled by the user, if the user wants them to be disabled... I conclude from the following text that they are enabled by default.

http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/privacy.html

Information Google receives when you use Google Chrome

You do not need to provide any personally identifying information in order to download and use Google Chrome. When you download Google Chrome or use it to contact Googleâ€™s servers, Google receives only standard log information including your machineâ€™s IP address and one or more cookies. You can configure Google Chrome to not send cookies to Google or other sites as explained here.

In addition, some Google Chrome features send limited additional information to Google:

- When you type URLs or queries in the address bar, the letters you type are sent to Google so the Suggest feature can automatically recommend terms or URLs you may be looking for. If you choose to share usage statistics with Google and you accept a suggested query or URL, Google Chrome will send that information to Google as well. You can disable this feature as explained here.

- If you navigate to a URL that does not exist, Google Chrome may send the URL to Google so we can help you find the URL you were looking for. You can disable this feature as explained here.

- Google Chrome's SafeBrowsing feature periodically contacts Google's servers to download the most recent list of known phishing and malware sites. In addition, when you visit a site that we think could be a phishing or malware site, your browser will send Google a hashed, partial copy of the site's URL so that we can send more information about the risky URL. Google cannot determine the real URL you are visiting from this information. More information about how this works is here.

- Your copy of Google Chrome includes one or more unique application numbers. These numbers and information about your installation of the browser (e.g., version number, language) will be sent to Google when you first install and use it and when Google Chrome automatically checks for updates. If you choose to send usage statistics and crash reports to Google, the browser will send us this information along with a unique application number as well. Crash reports can contain information from files, applications and services that were running at the time of a malfunction. We use crash reports to diagnose and try to fix any problems with the browser.

- You may choose Google as your search engine using Google Chrome, and you may also use Google Chrome to access other Google services such as Gmail. The Privacy Policies of Gmail or other services apply when you access them, no matter which browser you use. Using Google Chrome to connect to Google services will not cause Google to receive any special or additional personally identifying information about you.

I am not commenting on should you disable those features or not.

johnhpus · Post by **johnhpus** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:11 pm

I like it well enough so far, but when I'm typing a long reply into the forum here I'm finding that the text box often screws up. It's actually just the rendering of text as resizing the text area fixes things.

FrameFever · Post by **FrameFever** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:18 pm

what I don't like:
I can't choose a different folder for installing chrome...

Post by **betajaen** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:21 pm

reptor wrote:There are some "data mining"-like features which apparently must be disabled by the user, if the user wants them to be disabled... I conclude from the following text that they are enabled by default.

I've also read in other parts of the internets; that the EULA is quite strange, most particularly; part 11.1 about Google "owning" your content.

SpaceDude · Post by **SpaceDude** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:57 pm

johnhpus wrote:I like it well enough so far, but when I'm typing a long reply into the forum here I'm finding that the text box often screws up. It's actually just the rendering of text as resizing the text area fixes things.

Yeah I noticed that too.. Ah well it's a beta, can't complain too much. I'm sure it'll be fixed soon.

Klaim · Post by **Klaim** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:35 am

I just find a big bug with Chrome + Netvibes

Sending a mail to the help list and reporting to google...

Klaim · Post by **Klaim** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:01 am

http://groups.google.com/group/google-c ... 92ffb81628#

side note : Unity seems to work fine with Chrome

http://raptorsafari.com/play.php only needs a Chrome full restart.

edit> Argh it crashed...

lonewolff · Post by **lonewolff** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:55 am

I saw a guy at work using Chrome today and I had to ask him 'what the hell is that?'.

I'll have to take a look.

Post by **betajaen** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:44 am

I've uninstalled it.

The lack of extension interface, some minor bugs, a Google background process and the dodgy EULA made me go back to Firefox 3.1 (which is so pimped out right now, it's very difficult for me to switch to anything else).

lonewolff · Post by **lonewolff** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:51 am

betajaen wrote:I've uninstalled it.

The lack of extension interface, some minor bugs, a Google background process and the dodgy EULA made me go back to Firefox 3.1 (which is so pimped out right now, it's very difficult for me to switch to anything else).

Dodgy EULA?

Do they have some nasty restrictions in there or something?

Post by **betajaen** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:19 pm

There are some strange restrictions and property of ownership of content you post.

It's described fairly well here at the second bullet point:
http://www.johnrockefeller.net/?p=281

_tommo_ · Post by **_tommo_** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:42 pm

betajaen wrote:There are some strange restrictions and property of ownership of content you post.

It's described fairly well here at the second bullet point:
http://www.johnrockefeller.net/?p=281

This isn't dodgy to me...
It's instead very clear that they are saying that they are licensed to all the content you produce with their browser.

Wich is a bit excessive statement for me...

It's like Sinbad saying that everything we do in Ogre is in his full possess...

Too bad for me, I was already thinking to switching completely to Chrome, but if this are the rules, I don't agree...

lonewolff · Post by **lonewolff** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:14 pm

I agree. I think I'll stick with my current browser at the moment.

reptor · Post by **reptor** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:57 pm

From this Slashdot page

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/09/03/0247205.shtml

"Reading Google Chrome's Fine Print"

I found a link to a Google guy's blog:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-ch ... unication/

"Preventing paranoia: when does Google Chrome talk to Google.com?"

Post by **Kojack** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:59 pm

Putting tabs in the window title bar is pretty cool for saving screen space.
Dragging tabs out to make new windows is great.
But there's 3 things I would need before swapping from Firefox:
- adblocking (not likely, since google make most of the ads)
- saving youtube videos (not likely, since google own youtube)
- portable app support (run from a flash drive, saving all local data (bookmarks, history, settings) to it as well)

Point 3 may already be possible, I haven't tried copying the files from where google hid them (the exe isn't installed to program files) to a flash drive, but I use the portable version of firefox quite often.

Of course since it's open source, all that could be added.

Here's Chromium, the browser without the google logos or eula:
http://dev.chromium.org/Home
http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snap ... ium-rel-xp

Post by **betajaen** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:04 pm

Thanks Kojack, I was looking for that.

I wonder how long it will take for somebody to take out the Google UI of Chrome, and wrap it into a more Window's friendly user interface such as .net forms? Or as this is an Ogre forum - make it rendered onto a texture and placed in a Scene.

ajs15822 · Post by **ajs15822** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:13 pm

betajaen wrote:Or as this is an Ogre forum - make it rendered onto a texture and placed in a Scene.

As soon as they release the source.

(I made some more comments in the other Chrome thread)

Edit: W00t, found it!: http://dev.chromium.org/developers/how- ... ng-started, getting it now-- it seems to be about half a gig. o_o

PolyVox · Post by **PolyVox** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:42 pm

I have read there as been some controversy over the EULA - but actually I don't quite see how this can be. I mean, this is open source software so you could download and build it without accepting the EULA? And then you distribute it to other people, without them accepting the EULA?

Post by **haffax** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:53 pm

PolyVox wrote:I have read there as been some controversy over the EULA - but actually I don't quite see how this can be. I mean, this is open source software so you could download and build it without accepting the EULA? And then you distribute it to other people, without them accepting the EULA?

This is how I understand it too. Maybe it is only a matter of time till a google-free version is created by someone.