[hotspur]

Has anyone tried out Google's Chrome browser yet?

Just wondering what everybody's thoughts were.

[w4k3upn0w]

Not bad anything is better than IE. I read Chrome is just an old Safari engine called WebKit which was used on Safari 3. I use Opera above all but I had to use chrome the other day to access a site that was completely dead with Opera and glitchy on IE. I am not a big fan of Firefox but others appreciate that browser too. What ever get's people off IE is fine by me

[Derek]

It was OK but I like FF better.

[ninners]

It loads up quick and is visually interesting but it's not going to replace my default (Opera) anytime soon.

[kkenny]

It's a great browser. But just not fit out for me.

[Spartan Erik]

Using it right now, I use it for quick browsing. FF is still my default.. but once Chrome gets extensions I'm definitely switching

[goldy300]

I'd rather FF also.

[Nathan H]

Now i'm used to it, i'm always using chrome, as people have said the two main problems are easily explained by the fact it's beta. and those problems are a) its windows only b) there are no extensions. But its brand new so you can't have everything. Definitely a recommended download from me though.

[CoolFinalFan]

I'm not a big fan of it, tried it, it's ok! Still like Firefox better except when version 3.xxxx crashes! That's happened too so I went and got the older 2.xxx version!
Dunno!

[zen-r]

It's still early days for Chrome, & it has a long way to go before it gets the level of support & extra features (by way of Extensions) that Firefox already has.

A lot of people like its (JavaScript engine) speed, & the fact that if 1 browser window crashes, it doesn't affect its other browser windows - due to them running in separate processes.

One feature vital to many people that Firefox has over Chrome, is its Ad-blocker. Clearly, Google doesn't want that feature in Chrome because Ads are how it makes its money!

Another problem is that Google is already able to gather vast amounts of data from its users with all its other products, & now Chrome just adds to that data: Everything you search for in Google is linked to your IP address & logged. The contents of your Gmails are scanned (this includes people that don't use Gmail, but happen to send email to someone with a Gmail address). And now everything you do/ go to/ view in your Chrome browser can also be logged by Google. Interlinked with all the other data, this is a powerful tool & profile on your life & your behaviour. Ostensibly it is just to serve you targeted ads, but who knows how else this data can be abused, especially if accidentally "leaked" into the wild.

The great thing about Chrome is that it is Open Source, so it is only a matter of time before great new features are added by other parties. Today I read this story http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09..._iron_browser/ which says that another company has now released a "tweaked" version of Chrome which retains your privacy & prevents Google from gathering data from the user. Sounds like a great development, & I look forward to seeing further improvements.

Downloads for the Iron version of Chrome are available here http://www.srware.net/software_srware_iron_download.php (I am not affiliated to these 2 sites in any way, & cannot vouch for the effectiveness or otherwise of the software -but other people seem to approve of it!)
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