A Year With Google Chrome

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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InformationWeek takes a look at Google’s Chrome browser a year after it was released with much fanfare, taking readers through the first year of Chrome’s life. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. Heck, I’m still a bit stunned that it’s already September. Where did my summer go?

So is Google Chrome a success? Not if you measure it against initial expectations in places like TechCrunch and TechDirt. It's far from a Microsoft-killer; it hasn't even caused Microsoft to break a sweat. And it's been a disappointment to Mac and Linux users, who are still waiting to see versions of the software.
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To me, it's a success. I've switched to Chrome from FireFox because of the dreaded crashes I'd get every now and then. Since switching to Chrome last October, I've only had two crashes (and both were overclock FSB related).
 
I use it on netbooks because it's a bit less wasteful of the scarce screen space and more accommodating of laziness (omnibox). On other computers, I'm still not ready yet to give up ad blockers.
 
Said it before and said it i'll say it again, the moment some type of bookmark synchronization ability is added or available through an extension I will be switching from firefox full-time. When I thought about what one Firefox extension I could not live without, it was hands down Xmarks. I have multiple machines and I rely heavily on my bookmarks. Xmarks makes it so damn easy to keep then backed-up and perfectly synchronized.

Works really great when I do a new Firefox install. Install Xmarks and login, done.
 
havent bothered even trying out chrome. firefox working fine for me
 
love chrome, seems faster than IE, loving the thumbnails.

Ditched firefox since I found out it wasnt multi-threaded.
 
I've been using chrome for awhile now. I like it, it's fast and easy. I just can't seem to print any google maps with it. The formatting would be all jumbled. Kind of funny.
 
me0w0w said:
Ditched firefox since I found out it wasnt multi-threaded.
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Seems like a rather silly reason to switch. Chrome isn't multi-threaded either :p

All joking aside, what problems does Chrome's multi-process architecture prevent that you were *actually experiencing* with Firefox?
 
I recently switched from Firefox to Chrome at work and really like it so far. It seems much more snappy and quick to load pages (especially Salesforce pages)

but at home I am sticking with Firefox - I have a lot of extensions I'm not willing to give up, including an amazing smooth scrolling add-on, NoScript, and FireGestures.

once chrome gets all the functionality I need I will switch immediately
 
Chrome is great, currently my primary Windows browser. There are a few things I do on FF that I can't on Chrome but I'm fine opening it for those occasions.
 
I think it's a success. I know it'll take awhile to catch on. Folks said the same thing about Firefox.
 
ZDPhoenix said:
I think it's a success. I know it'll take awhile to catch on. Folks said the same thing about Firefox.
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Marketshare is only relevant in terms of if there are enough users to keep the company producing the product. Otherwise all that matters is if the product is good. In this case it is excellent, so yeah, IMO its a success.
 
Extensions are all that matter to me. I'll use whatever browser has the best ones. Right now nothing touches Firefox.
 
I've used Chrome since release and only occasionally does it break a website (or rather the website broke chrome?) so I'll then need to use iexplore or ff. The speed of Chrome compared to explore and ff isn't comparable...it blows them out of the water in my experience.
 
Been meaning to ditch FF for a while now. It has just become a slow bloated piece of crap.
 
I've been using Chrome since release also. It's snappy and lightweight. The bookmarks bar is my friend. It hardly ever crashes or hangs on me, but every once in a while it will.

I haven't used IE since I don't think, at all.
 
kllrnohj said:
Seems like a rather silly reason to switch. Chrome isn't multi-threaded either :p

All joking aside, what problems does Chrome's multi-process architecture prevent that you were *actually experiencing* with Firefox?
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I'm pretty sure chrome is multi threaded?
 
anyway.. I've been using chrome since it was first available and I love it. I don't think I could ever go back to FF or IE..

the only problem I've ever had with it is lol.. sometimes I will get banned from a few different forums because it tries to open up too many connections and the site will think I'm trying to ddos or something? I'm not sure exactly but my IP gets blocked in the firewall. so I guess google made it too good lol
 
been using it for almost a year now, i love it. less wasted space on the screen, and no "runaway" memory leaks when i leave a page open with flash...
 
kllrnohj said:
Seems like a rather silly reason to switch. Chrome isn't multi-threaded either :p

All joking aside, what problems does Chrome's multi-process architecture prevent that you were *actually experiencing* with Firefox?
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My question, as well. Needless to say, over the course of the time that I spent with Chrome, I had a few unresponsive tabs. I think the whole separate process thing is next to useless because in the task manager - each tab, no matter what it is, has the same name. "chrome.exe". So what do I do when 1 out of the 4-8 tabs I had open crashed like that, but I can't discern between them? I have to close them all. This effectively renders the whole separate process thing as totally useless. Lack of customizeability and a complicated extension/add-on system keeps me from using Chrome full-time. Also, I much prefer the look of the new Firefox 4 concepts to the look of Chrome.
 
stop!theradio said:
I think the whole separate process thing is next to useless because in the task manager - each tab, no matter what it is, has the same name. "chrome.exe". So what do I do when 1 out of the 4-8 tabs I had open crashed like that, but I can't discern between them? I have to close them all. This effectively renders the whole separate process thing as totally useless.
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What now? :confused:

Untitled-91.jpg
 
I saw this coming. Chrome was late to the game, and cut out two great markets. And I see it happening with the Chrome OS too. Google should stick to the web.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
criccio [H]ardness Supreme, 1.4 Years

Said it before and said it i'll say it again, the moment some type of bookmark synchronization ability is added or available through an extension I will be switching from firefox full-time. When I thought about what one Firefox extension I could not live without, it was hands down Xmarks. I have multiple machines and I rely heavily on my bookmarks. Xmarks makes it so damn easy to keep then backed-up and perfectly synchronized.

Works really great when I do a new Firefox install. Install Xmarks and login, done.
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based on this comment...sorry.
 
criccio said:
What now? :confused:
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:confused: Is that included in Chrome? I meant the Windows task manager.

In the Task manager, it doesn't matter how many tabs you open, only one app shows for Chrome:

taskapps.jpg


...and when you look in processes, each Chrome tab has the same name, no matter what the tab contents are:

taskprocess.jpg


You should also note that Firefox - with the same amount of tabs open as Chrome - uses LESS memory than the 3 Chrome tabs combined. So, what's this about "lightweight"? How odd - they seem about the same.
 
Yes, its in Chrome. When people talk about the different tabs being in the task manager, they are talking about the Chrome task manager, not Windows.
 
You can also right click right above the tabs and Task Manager is an option. Definitely liking Chrome btw.
 
I re-read the quote and reminded me other the other main reason I use Firefox over Chrome. I can use it across all the platforms I use and sync things like the bookmarks. Doesn't matter if I am on Windows, Mac, or Linux. When I open up Firefox it is identical on all of them.

Chrome needs to make their browser work great on all platforms and I need to be able to sync everything across those platforms.
 
One year already, really? It doesn't seem like that. But yeah, chrome is improving nicely. Though I still crave for my extensions.
 
Ive completely switched to Chrome.
I absolutely love it.

Firefox has some cool add-ins and what not, but its become bloated and microsoft seems to be on some feature kick to compete with firefox and they both have just become memory hogs.

I really like Chrome because I move tabs into their own windows, every tab is its own process so if a tab does crash it doesnt take everything with it.
Also Chrome really got back to the basics of a web-browser.
 
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