Google Chrome: One Month Later

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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Nov 27, 2006
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GigaOm noted that Google’s Chrome browser is now one month old. They took a look at the site distribution metrics for users hitting their site and made some interesting observations. I know a bunch of you tried it out. Still using it or waiting for more patches?

Svetlana has been tracking the usage using Google Analytics, Clicky and Net Applications has seen a gradual decline in the usage. Gone is the download Chrome link from the Google home page. She points out that there are some fixes the browser needs and as a result Google might be quietly taking a step back.
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Chrome? whats that

OH ya, that browser google came out with...

heard such hype then heard nothing about it!
 
It's to be expected. It really offers not much, if anything, that can be considered "revolutionary". It's a nice, simple browser, but that's not what catches eyes, for the most part.
 
I've been using it since it was released, exclusively. It's fine and all but really its just a web browser and I find all the non-IE browsers to be equally acceptable. I have IE8 installed for one particular site that has so much proprietary junk that other browsers collapse in fear, but other than that...
 
Chrome is really too buggy and too unstable to be used as a browser ATM. Anything more intensive than regular HTML can and does cause it to crash. A year or two from now it might be usable, but in its current form, it's a waste of HDD space...
 
I like Chrome I find that its much faster overall in the surfing I tend to do.

However I can't use it as my main browser till user created addons become a reality.

I cannot live without adblocker plus with element hider and no script for added security
 
i rather like it as well, for what i use it for its fast, IE crashes constantly on my system, and i never did get the urge to use FF
 
I like it and use it on my Windows partition. I especially like the browser history feature. Not using it 100% everyday yet, because of no OSX client yet.

P.S. Firefox addons are over rated. :rolleyes:
 
iv been using it from day one on my vista x64 machine and i can count how many times it has crashed on one hand.

its stable, but not feature filled like firefox, i can live without all the plugins ff has, only one i used was adblock and i can defiantly live without it. its faster then firefox at startup and loading pages and thats mostly what i care about.
 
I've been running it on Vista x64 since the debut, and initially it was buggy, but since all the silent patches I've been using it exclusively. I love Chrome and I haven't looked back since.

Anyone that had issues with it the day of the debut should install it again... it's been updated a few times.
 
Does it still not support Logitech mouse software for the middle button to press and glide scroll? That was a major oversight in my opinion.
 
Matrices said:
Does it still not support Logitech mouse software for the middle button to press and glide scroll? That was a major oversight in my opinion.
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I don't know, but middle mouse button is working on my Microsoft mouse.
 
Karafias said:
Chrome is really too buggy and too unstable to be used as a browser ATM. Anything more intensive than regular HTML can and does cause it to crash. A year or two from now it might be usable, but in its current form, it's a waste of HDD space...
Click to expand...

What type of pages are causing you to crash? Can you give an example? I have not had one freeze or crash and I've been using it since release, for every variety of site you can imagine. Stability doesn't seem to be one of this browsers problems.
 
I found it to be much faster than both IE7 and FF3. But the reason I dropped it almost immediately is that the frakkin zoon is just text scaling. I have a 24" monitor @ 1920x1200 that sits back a ways on my desk, and I'm getting old so my eyesight is not what it used to be. Both IE and FF zoom scales the entire page--images, text, video, everything. Granted, FF3, while in beta, only scaled the text like Chrome. But they listened to complaints and fixed it in the final product. Google has not done this...yet. When/if they do, it will be my new permanent browser.
 
dyzophoria said:
google living up to its reputation of leaving products in beta I guess..:rolleyes:
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Hey, they'll take Gmail out of beta right after Duke Nukem Forever and Chinese Democracy hit the streets. It's in the fine print of the user agreement.

As for Chome...why? There's nothing wrong with Firefox or most of the other browsers out there. Chrome was needless. There's already a browser for every need out there, and unlike Chrome, most aren't in beta, and most will let you tweak the UI. We need another browser like we need another media player.
 
Let's see, why is Google making a browser? Maybe because that way they don't have to pay Mozilla $50+ million per year for that little search bar in firefox.
 
riot8ap said:
Let's see, why is Google making a browser? Maybe because that way they don't have to pay Mozilla $50+ million per year for that little search bar in firefox.
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^^^ That. I don't know how much money they actually pay (maybe that $50M is correct I have no idea), but that's their reason.


Like others have said: nothing revolutionary.
Some "cool" ideas, but nothing that will buck the trend. Just like iPhone competitors, they all offer a few little features the iPhone doesn't have, but nothing to revolutionize what's established.
 
riot8ap said:
Let's see, why is Google making a browser? Maybe because that way they don't have to pay Mozilla $50+ million per year for that little search bar in firefox.
Click to expand...

They renewed their contract with them for 3 years days before they announced chrome's public availability.


But I just installed Chrome 2 days ago on both my HTPC and regular system. It loads all my web pages pretty fast. It works good with wordpress powered sites and stuff like {H} and Shacknews. I might start using it instead of IE7. NO real reason for except that its faster overall. I use alot of google tools so this seems to fit better. The only plugins I use in Firefox is the Web Developer plugin and no-script. Chrome seems to have some of the features of the Web Dev built in it but I can't wait until these plugins are imitated for the Chrome platform.
 
As for me, I'm still happily using it

Of course I'm just a simple user that doesn't use any fancy addons. My requirement are somewhat similar to most common users out there who would be happy to have a simple, easy-to-use and stable browser.

And the most visited thumbnail thing is my favorite, better then using those "favorite" feature in IE
 
In all seriousness... Chrome *could* be the best browser out there. They just need to do some more serious work before they announced it.

I've yet to use a browser that "had it all".

Opera, FF, IE, even Advant... They all have features they others don't. Google could package them all together and make one SWEET browser.
 
Although, I'm to the point of not entirely trusting Google anymore... So still iffy on the "browser to rule them all". Just saying, it *could* be possible for them to do that.
 
Flash, Ajax, practically anything web 2.0 has caused it to crash on me. It also doesn't seem to handle multiple tabs well. From a few people I've discussed it with, they had similar problems. I'm honestly kinda surprised you didn't have any problems... maybe OS related? I'm using XP.

The coolest thing about chrome is the task manager and ability to kill whatever's screwing your browser up. I would LOVE to see that in FF.
 
5.59% is pretty impressive for one month, actually, even given that the site in question is geared toward techies for the most part.

If Google effectively leverages its brand in addition to some intellectual horsepower, then Chrome could be the browser killer.

In ideal terms, a mature Chrome would have enough credibility due to the Google aspect to carry the average user, and hopefully given a year or two of development would be stable and feature-heavy enough to carry the geek market as well.

It's not impossible - and IMO fairly likely - that in the near future Chrome (probably the name will change) will be on par with, or maybe even ahead of Firefox as the alternative browser of choice. It'll still be IE as the main browser of course, unless a slew of new exploits and problems arise it'll still be the "good enough" choice - or lack of choice - for the average user.
 
Love it. People can say what they want, on my minty fresh Vista machine it is faster than Firefox, no question. I can't wait to be running this in OS X and Linux as well.
 
haven't used it, don't intend to.

when i read a story of WOW regarding chrome, i'll try it.
 
I think what we're seeing is that Chrome has potential...but there's no real reason to use it right now if you're happy with something else.
There are smaller browsers, there are those with more features, there are those that are more customizable, etc.
As of now, there's pretty much a browser for every need and most can do everything the current version of Chrome can do and a lot more.

BUT...we'll see what happens once Chrome gets a little closer to being more or less finished. It could end up being #2 as long as they keep it scalable.

Keep in mind that it's still just a browser though. It's just a matter of pages working correctly, quickly, and using an interface you like. I don't think a browser will ever "wow" me.
 
My laptop touch scroll pad thing doesn't work correctly in Chrome, so I stick to Opera.
 
I love it, downloaded it on day one and its my main browser with Firefox as my backup. Love it.

Fast, simple, but as been said, needs user add-ons...
 
I use chrome for all the sites I trust (except Gmail - because I hate using Gmail without the BetterGmail2 FF extension). Yes there are some quirks that I'd like to have addressed (like making it harder to drag tabs into new windows, automatically closing popups after a set amount of time) as well as better compatibility with sites (I subscribe to the Dev build updater, so I do get hit by sites that just don't work sometimes, but I haven't had any more crashes than when I used the normal builds). I use Chrome, FF3 and IE8 all for different things, but for my day to day browsing Chrome just feels the fastest.
 
been using it exclusively since release

No problems besides certain MS applications such as Sharepoint, although Firefox doesn't read Sharepoint properly either
 
I would say 60//35/5

Firefox/Chrome/IE

I enjoy using it but have become accustomed to FF to the point where it will take awhile before I make a heavy switch.
 
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