Google's Chrome Browser

[Wolfman]

According to the news, Google is releasing a browser named "Chrome" today; I'm a little surprised that I can't find anyone talking about that here.

Anyone heard of it? Anyone downloaded it (or planning to)? Any issues or problems we might want to be aware of? And what do you think of this in general...assuming its a decent browser, do you think Google can mount a challenge to the more established browsers?

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Planning on downloading it, it should come out later today IIRC.

I am interested in it because of the tab feature that makes it very crash resistant, i.e. each tab is a different process. Which is very helpful to browsers like me who open up a lot of tabs and pdfs and don't want to have to find them all again when a single page crashes.

I have to see if it has a bookmark bar, password reminder, etc.

Hopefully it will be very lightweight as well.

[I Ratant]

My trusty Firefox is acting all snarky today, I guess it's in a snit over Chrome.
Might just ring them up and take a look-see.

[jsiv]

Planning on downloading it, it should come out later today IIRC.

I am interested in it because of the tab feature that makes it very crash resistant, i.e. each tab is a different process.
IE8 does this also.

I have to see if it has a bookmark bar, password reminder, etc.
Me too, I can't wait for Google to host my bookmarks, history, cache, and so on online in a convenient searchable format.

[Aerik]

Forget google's browser. I want Firefox 3.1 when it comes out, with it's reportedly 40% faster javascript engine. Only, I want it NOW. People with big adblock plus lists and any live dynamic extensions would appreciate it.

[jsiv]

I'm having a hard time seeing the point. It's basically like using Firefox, except

* No options
* Toolbars (that can't be customized) moved into the tabs, Opera style
* Tab bar merged with an ugly custom title bar that doesn't match the Windows theme
* Twice the memory and other resource use

It's a nice novelty, but about as tempting to use regularly as the Windows version of Safari (not very.)

http://i35.tinypic.com/o0b5sy.png

[sophia8]

I've just downloaded it and trying it out at this moment.
First impressions:
compared to FF, it's very plain and basic; I'm missing my add-ons.
I quite like the "frequently visited sites" thumbnails displayed on the front page - I can get to my favourites very quickly; otoh, I don't like the idea that anybody shoulder-surfing can see what my favourite sites are.
It seems a little faster than FF

Other than that, there's not much to say. It's in beta, so think I'll wait to see if it gets better. It will have to get a whole lot better to make me switch.

ETA: You can get to Options, but it's not obvious. The little wrench in the upper RH corner will give you a drop-down menu.
ETA2: I've just discovered a 'Developer' menu item - it gives you acess to a Javascript debugger.

[Darat]

I'm using it now, looks quite nice and has a very "smooth" feel to it, doesn't seem that speedy though. As for crashing tabs - never had that problem with Opera anyway! Spotted a few rendering problems even with the Forum.

[Rasmus]

It's nice, but I am not impressed. It wouldn't import my firefox settings (I had to kill it twice and then did it manually) and it crashed as soon as I had my first site site opened. Way to go!

I am sure that mine is not a typical experience, but this browser has a lot to catch up on if it wants to make it. I am not going to surf without my mouse gestures.

[Upchurch]

I was going to say that I thought Google Chrome was still in Beta, but then I realized that everything Google has is still in Beta. I'll go check it out now.

[Darat]

It's nice, but I am not impressed. It wouldn't import my firefox settings (I had to kill it twice and then did it manually) and it crashed as soon as I had my first site site opened. Way to go!

...snip...

Was that not just a matter of no feedback past a certain point? I thought it had crashed during the FF import but looking on Task Manger saw it was in fact chugging away and after a few minutes it did actually finish.

[sophia8]

OK, another Chrome discovery: it has an "Incognito" option - click on that and you open up a new window that tells you You've gone incognito. Pages that you view in this window won't appear in your browser history or search history, and they won't leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files that you download or bookmarks that you create will be preserved, however.
Heyyyy... nice!

[Upchurch]

Was that not just a matter of no feedback past a certain point? I thought it had crashed during the FF import but looking on Task Manger saw it was in fact chugging away and after a few minutes it did actually finish.
You saw that in your OS's Task Manager or the browser's? (Putting a task manager is a browser is not a bad idea.)

[Darat]

The "new tab" page is a nice twist on Opera's Speeddial idea but it doesn't seem to possible to customise and override what shows up. Which means it won't be that useful for my browsing to the Forum.

[Darat]

You saw that in your OS's Task Manager or the browser's? (Putting a task manager is a browser is not a bad idea.)

Computer's.

[Darat]

Oh and I hate the non-standard Windows stuff - I like to customise and control what my windows looks like - not have an application make the decisions for me!

[Darat]

In page search has a nice feature - marks in the scrollbar so you can see where on a page the term occurs. Noticed a weakness in it - it doesn't find stuff in an input box on the page.

[Rasmus]

Was that not just a matter of no feedback past a certain point? I thought it had crashed during the FF import but looking on Task Manger saw it was in fact chugging away and after a few minutes it did actually finish.

I must admit i didn't want to wait or troubleshoot. It stalled with one window claiming it was ready bit not letting me click the next-button or whatever the label was.

I liked what I saw, really, but it's just not enough yet to make me consider a switch. I will keep it installed, though. But it lacks too many things. No bookmakrs manager?

[Rat]

Still playing with it, but things look a bit odd in places. Selecting blocks of text is particularly odd.

[Psi Baba]

Some interesting thoughts on Chrome's TOS:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10030522-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

2. Although you retain any copyrights to content you own and use in the browser, Google says it has a right to display some of your content, in conjunction with promoting its services. Here's their exact wording.

"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."

[Molinaro]

I can't seem to set it so that a new tab automatically opens my homepage instead of the Most Visited preview page.

Otherwise, I have not run into any problems yet.

[jsiv]

Have you run into any reasons to use it at all?

[Rat]

Have you run into any reasons to use it at all?

I'm almost getting the feeling that you're not wholly in favour of this great blessing that Google have so generously bestowed upon us. Well let me tell you, you'll be sorry when they have completed their plan and the Google-heretics are up against the wall.

[jsiv]

No, Sir, I love my life here on Google Earth.

[Babbylonian]

My first impression (after 10 minutes of use) is that it's a lot faster on this nasty old notebook that I'm using than IE8, Firefox 3 and Opera. That's probably going to keep it in use on this computer where the other browsers have been getting slower and slower with each version.

It definitely needs a lot of work, though. Where, for example, is my Google toolbar? :confused:

[Modified]

I frequently refer to a map that uses the Google maps API and has a few thousand markers. This takes 60 seconds to load and display on Firefox, 10 seconds on Chrome (on IE it takes 60 seconds to get to the point where you are sure it isn't really going to work). More mundane web pages seem to be peppier as well.

[Darat]

I can't seem to set it so that a new tab automatically opens my homepage instead of the Most Visited preview page.

Otherwise, I have not run into any problems yet.

Via the tools's menu (the spanner icon to the right of the address bar) - choose options and then you can set your homepage or -pages.

[Darat]

Have you run into any reasons to use it at all?

Well it is a beta at the moment so I would say the only reason to check it put is curiosity. So far there are no features that seem to me to make a compelling case for moving to it.

At the moment, because of the lack of in-page search in input boxes, I can't use it for my day-to-day browsing.

[chran]

At the moment, because of the lack of in-page search in input boxes, I can't use it for my day-to-day browsing. Why do you need to search in input-boxes? Haven't you put the content there yourself?

I flove Chrome already! It's so fast and nice!

Plus, have you noticed you can resize this input-field? Look at the bottom right :eye-poppi

[Darat]

Most of the time no, because I'm editing something like a vBulletin template.

[Darat]

...snip...

Plus, have you noticed you can resize this input-field? Look at the bottom right :eye-poppi

Seems to have that for pretty much any multi line input box - which is nice.

Just noticed you can't add a word to the dictionary.

[chran]

Most of the time no, because I'm editing something like a vBulletin template. Oh, right! Yeah, that would be a problem.

Just noticed you can't add a word to the dictionary. Yes, and you need to restart Chrome to change the language checked, AND you can't seem to change the GUI-language from the one you installed it with, even after restarting :p

[El Greco]

My try-everything-out days are long gone. When it comes to a point where it is more stable, faster and more configurable than the current browsers, wake me up.

[erlando]

you can't seem to change the GUI-language from the one you installed it with, even after restarting :p

Go into Options -> Minor tweaks -> Change font and language settings
In the new window: Languages -> Google Chrome Language. Restart.

I switched from Danish to English. I hate non-english computerlingo.

[chran]

Go into Options -> Minor tweaks -> Change font and language settings
In the new window: Languages -> Google Chrome Language. Restart. Well, yes. That's what I did?

I switched from Danish to English. I hate non-english computerlingo. Me too!

Another thing: You can't drag around words in input-boxes - you can in both Firefox and IE.

[Darat]

I can drag words around.

can I drag words around.

[chran]

I can drag words around.

can I drag words around. I can't - I just expand the selection :rolleyes:

[erlando]

Well, yes. That's what I did?

And it didn't work? That's strange. Maybe that's the "beta"-part..

Me too!

Dansk egner sig bare ikke som computersprog.. :D

Chrome is definitely not the be-all-end-all of browsers. It doesn't even do ACID3 better than Firefox. It does pass ACID2 though.

But for gmail et al it seems to be lightning fast.

[richardm]

Was that not just a matter of no feedback past a certain point? I thought it had crashed during the FF import but looking on Task Manger saw it was in fact chugging away and after a few minutes it did actually finish.

It did seem to take a long time to get the importing done for me too.

It does seem quite nippy. I'll see what it's like when the novelty wears off.

Re: no google toolbar; you can just type into the address bar and as well as searching your history it gives a "Search Google for N" option.

Edit: I think the Most Visited feature will be useful; the Speed Dial was the one thing about Opera that I really missed when I stopped using it.

Edit again: If it fixes the problem with Shockwave Flash crashing and making Flash videos unreliable I'll be happy. In fact, I've just tried Youtube and nothing seems to work at all. Booo!

[SezMe]

I'm using it now, looks quite nice and has a very "smooth" feel to it, doesn't seem that speedy though.
Can you say more? What does a "smooth" feel mean?

[chran]

And it didn't work? That's strange. Maybe that's the "beta"-part... Meh. Works for me now, after restarting the computer!

sigh

But, I'm seriously loving the "Create application shortcuts ..." with Gmail! It opens in what looks like an application windown without location bar and stuff!

"Bring the Internet to your Desktop", indeed!

[Matthew Best]

It definitely seems faster to open web pages than Firefox or Internet Explorer to me.

[Matthew Best]

However, for some reason my scroll wheel doesn't seem to work in Chrome.

[Darat]

Can you say more? What does a "smooth" feel mean?

No flickering when updating the auto-complete stuff, moving between tags is quick with no delay, that type of stuff.

[Darat]

Hmm - the shortcut keys in the vBulletin boxes don't work e.g. CTRL+B for bolding text. :(

[Worm]

However, for some reason my scroll wheel doesn't seem to work in Chrome.

My Touchpad scrolling doesn't work either - seems to be a common problem.

[Darat]

Do like the "Close tabs opened by this tab" option - it's very useful.

[jsiv]

And it didn't work? That's strange. Maybe that's the "beta"-part..
Kuk i computeren!

[Marquis de Carabas]

My considered opinion after playing around with it all morning: meh.

Considering this is essentially the opening volley of the all-out Google assault on Microsoft, I expected more.

[Skeptic Ginger]

AFAIK FireFox is ad free. Think Google's Chrome will be?

[chran]

AFAIK FireFox is ad free. Think Google's Chrome will be? What?

Do you mean something like Adblock? Yeah, I missed that too, until I remembered I had Privoxy (http://www.fritscher.ch/blog/2008/09/03/google-chrome-adblock-with-privoxy/) installed :D

Works like a charm.

[Soapy Sam]

I...don't think this actually is a browser. I think it's something rather different.
I'm unsure what though.
Open one web page and it's slower than FF3.
Open GoogleEarth, GMail and the single web page and it's much, much faster.
This damned well IS an online OS, or the beginnings of one.

[Soapy Sam]

It does double posts.

I rather like the uncluttered look, but as I don't run dozens of java applets simultaneously, I think I'll be staying with FF.

[Darat]

I'm finding it much faster than FF3 in all browsing.

[Darat]

What?

Do you mean something like Adblock? Yeah, I missed that too, until I remembered I had Privoxy (http://www.fritscher.ch/blog/2008/09/03/google-chrome-adblock-with-privoxy/) installed :D

Works like a charm.

I think some folk are concerned that like gmail the Chrome browser will start to add adverts when you are browsing.

[chran]

That's stu... unsupported by evidence :boxedin:

[Darat]

Memory use is on the high side. Loaded up three websites in separate tabs in Opera, FF, Chrome, Safari & IE:

[I Ratant]

From a site that Google Chrome won't go to...
.
"Breach of Rule 4 removed - I think this is the site the article was taken from (and Google Chrome will go to it.... http://tapthehive.com/discuss/This_Post_Not_Made_In_Chrome_Google_s_EULA_Sucks"
.
I won't use Chrome until this is fixed.

[alfaniner]

...I am not going to surf without my mouse gestures.

???Care to clarify?

OK, another Chrome discovery: it has an "Incognito" option - click on that and you open up a new window that tells you
Heyyyy... nice!
NOW I understand why MS suddenly is coming out with something very similar, after so long.

Still, I almost never use a new, mass-market product like this until it's been out several months and most of the main security holes and bugs have been found by hapless users.

[jsiv]

As this topic has ended up on slashdot, some others have recommended rebuilding the Chromium source and associated packages which are mostly under the BSD license. I have not looked into how easy it is to build Chromium under Windows. Of the Linux guys I've talked to about it, they either said it wouldn't compile, or that it compiled but immediately crashed. There is nothing which leads me to believe that the present day 3-term BSD license requires anyone to use Chrome's license, so this notion that we can recompile to avoid the EULA may actually have some merit."
.
I won't use Chrome until this is fixed.
It compiles just fine as long as you download a tested branch. Why anyone would bother making a "free" fork at this point I don't know though. Maybe if it ever reaches a more mature state.

[Rasmus]

???Care to clarify?

Sure. (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/39)

I can right-click and move the mouse with the button still pressed, depening on how I move the mouse - and where - the browser will perform a particular action.

e.g. moving the mouse "up" over a link will open it in a new tab, moving "down" over a link will open it in a new window. Moving the mose "up" and then "left" will take me to the next browser tab, "up" and then "right" to the previous tab, etc.

So, for many things I routinely do whilst surfing, I only have to move my mouse for about 30 odd pixels, rather than dig through menus or reach for the keyboard.

I use "new tab" and "new window" extensively and dow't want to miss it.

[Soapy Sam]

Memory use is on the high side. Loaded up three websites in separate tabs in Opera, FF, Chrome, Safari & IE:

The comic strip basics lecture gives some detail on why that is. The claim is that over time less memory leakage occurs as each time a tab is closed ALL memory is returned to Windows. I suspect The more memory you can give it, the better the multiple website perfoprmance is compared to Firefox or IE.
If you habitually only open one or two web pages, you will be better with a more traditional browser.

But where will future development of Chrome take us towards integration of multiple web apps?

[BillC]

I am not going to surf without my mouse gestures.???Care to clarify?
I'm guessing you're not a Firefox user? Mouse gestures enable you to carry out various browsing activities (new tab, close window, forward one page, etc.), by holding down a mouse button and drawing a simple shape onscreen. For example, with my setup, to go back a page, I hold down the right mouse key and draw a horizontal line to the left.

It's generally a quicker way to surf, if you're into these things.


ETA: I see Rasmus was there before me.

[Modified]

(Stuff about the license) ... I won't use Chrome until this is fixed.

It is fixed now.

[quixotecoyote]

It is fixed now.
link?

[Modified]

link?

I suppose in this case "Google is your friend" could easily be misinterpreted, so http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10031703-56.html .

[alfaniner]

I'm guessing you're not a Firefox user? Mouse gestures enable you to carry out various browsing activities (new tab, close window, forward one page, etc.), by holding down a mouse button and drawing a simple shape onscreen. For example, with my setup, to go back a page, I hold down the right mouse key and draw a horizontal line to the left.

It's generally a quicker way to surf, if you're into these things.


ETA: I see Rasmus was there before me.

Actually, I am. I just haven't looked too much into addons except for the most popular. However, this sounded like the "Miracle" gestures which were required in the game Black & White (& BW Deluxe, & BW 2), and even though I never finished those games (recounted here a couple times) I always loved the gestures.

Now if only they make sparkles as you draw them...

I will definitely check it out, thanks!

[HawaiiBigSis]

Now if only they make sparkles as you draw them...
This from the person who complains about my use of blue comic sans? ;)

[/derail]

[Rasmus]

Now if only they make sparkles as you draw them...

I will definitely check it out, thanks!

Well, you can chose to let it draw a line of the gesture on screen, but I soon turned that off.

[Princess]

First impressions of Google Chrome:

- I was a bit put off by the "one textbox to rule them all", where my address bar is also my search bar, but after using the browser for the few days I really like it. +10 points.

- The "most visited websites" feature is more useful than I thought it'd be. +10

- Browsing is lightning fast, easily 2 to 3 seconds faster per page than IE and Firefox. For this reason alone, Chrome is primary browser, and I use IE and Firefox by necessity alone. +20

- User interface is very appealing and modern. +5

- A couple of Community Server sites don't render properly. -5

- Viewing area is very large. However, I was a bit put off by the absence of a status, but I actually like how the status bar only displays I hover over links and when pages are loading -- after getting used to this feature, I'd kinda like to see Firefox and IE behave the same way. +10

- I did not have any installation problems like other users did. Installation was smooth and error free. +5

- I can only get to my bookmarks through the bookmarks toolbar -- I haven't found any other menus in the browser that show my bookmarks. When I uncheck the "always show bookmarks toolbar", the toolbar disappears entirely; I thought it was a collapsible menu that expanded when I hovered over the collapsed region, but its just gone. I can only get my bookmarks menu back by re-checking "always show bookmarks toolbar". -10.

- The back button on most browsers only lets me move back to the immediate previous page, unlike FF and IE that let give me a dropdown list of my recent history and allow me to jump back multiple pages. -5


Features I'd like to see:

- I'd to be able to add generic widget toolbars anywhere I want in the browser.

- Of course, I'd like a Widget API so I can write or download widget plugins.



In general, I like a very bare bones browser. I don't use many plugins (I only have the Firebug, Meebo, and Chatzilla plugins installed on Firefox, nothing else). Chrome gets the job done for me.

[ladyattis]

I can see this browser leading to the 'real' Web 2.0 that all the fellow IT hypesters keep squawking about.

[HawaiiBigSis]

- I can only get to my bookmarks through the bookmarks toolbar -- I haven't found any other menus in the browser that show my bookmarks. When I uncheck the "always show bookmarks toolbar", the toolbar disappears entirely; I thought it was a collapsible menu that expanded when I hovered over the collapsed region, but its just gone. I can only get my bookmarks menu back by re-checking "always show bookmarks toolbar". -10.

At the far right of my bookmarks toolbar, I have a "other bookmarks" folder icon, which drops down to show my entire bookmarks list. At first I kept accidentally putting things into my bookmarks toolbar, which was annoying to me. I figured out the difference, and have it straightened out now.

I can see this browser leading to the 'real' Web 2.0 that all the fellow IT hypesters keep squawking about.
I thought we were already firmly enmeshed in web 2.0 (the vast majority of the information available being provided by the vox populi), and the "information cloud" was going to be web 3.0. I'm not sure how that information cloud thing is supposed to work though.

I guess I'm not pushing the browser to its capabilities, because I don't really see much difference between it and IE and Netscape, aside from the interface.

[ladyattis]

The thing is the Web 2.0 thing isn't really new. We've always had a degree of popular or 'democratic' methods on the Internet. The difference today is that the tools are easier to use both as a developer and an end user (sometimes, AJAX still sucks). All Web 2.0 does is make it prettier and it sounds sexier to say than to say Mesh Networks Always Peer (MNAP).

[HawaiiBigSis]

The thing is the Web 2.0 thing isn't really new. We've always had a degree of popular or 'democratic' methods on the Internet. The difference today is that the tools are easier to use both as a developer and an end user (sometimes, AJAX still sucks). All Web 2.0 does is make it prettier and it sounds sexier to say than to say Mesh Networks Always Peer (MNAP).
Well, I don't know about "always" with respect to a degree of popular content providers. Early on, the web content was controlled by a handful of corporations -- of content providers -- which quickly evolved into more than a handful. But that evolution sort of leveled off for a period of time until people started blogging and foruming and what not.

It's my impression that today's tools -- which are easier to use and more available -- is what makes everybody a publisher, and therefore makes the Web 2.0 thingy.

But I agree that Web 2.0 isn't new.

[negativ]

I'm finding it much faster than FF3 in all browsing.

Most novices do.

[Darat]

??

[Matthew Best]

- The back button on most browsers only lets me move back to the immediate previous page, unlike FF and IE that let give me a dropdown list of my recent history and allow me to jump back multiple pages. -5

If you right-click on the "back" arrow, you get the drop-down list of your recent history that you are looking for.

[jsiv]

First impressions of Google Chrome:

- I was a bit put off by the "one textbox to rule them all", where my address bar is also my search bar, but after using the browser for the few days I really like it. +10 points.
This is something the other browsers have had forever though, and have only recently started moving away from.

- The "most visited websites" feature is more useful than I thought it'd be. +10
Also exists in the competition.


- User interface is very appealing and modern. +5
I actually find the UI to be the biggest downside. It is outright ugly and I am offended that the people at Google think they know what I want better than I do. I like all my programs to have the same look -- the Windows Classic one. For those that prefer something more fancy, I'm sure Chrome would have actually looked nicer with the Vista Aero theme.

[I Ratant]

I've heard the latest download of "Picasa" includes the left nut, right arm, first born acquisition "rights", word-for-word as in the original Google Chrome EULA.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Ah, a cool thing that I like is that the password saving feature only asks to save a password after making sure that what you put in worked, so dummies like me don't accidentally save the wrong sign in.

[HawaiiBigSis]

Ah, a cool thing that I like is that the password saving feature only asks to save a password after making sure that what you put in worked, so dummies like me don't accidentally save the wrong sign in.
I like that too, for exactly the same reason! (Oh, and that you don't have to click a box in the middle of the screen to accomplish it.)

[richardm]

In fact, I've just tried Youtube and nothing seems to work at all. Booo!

Right: I've got to the bottom of this problem and I'll throw out my suggested fix in case it's handy for anyone else. I was getting the message "Sorry, this video is no longer available" for all YouTube videos, which was quite annoying.

I'm using Kaspersky Anti-Virus software. If you've got the same issue, you can fix it as follows:

Open Settings->Web Anti-Virus.
Click the "Customize" button.
On the General tab, change from "Use Buffering Scan" to "Use Streaming Scan".
Click Apply and close the settings window.

Restart Chrome (this step is important) and try a video. It should play fine, now.

This has also fixed a problem with choppy playing on the BBC iPlayer, incidentally.

[Soapy Sam]

T


I actually find the UI to be the biggest downside. It is outright ugly and I am offended that the people at Google think they know what I want better than I do. I like all my programs to have the same look -- the Windows Classic one. For those that prefer something more fancy, I'm sure Chrome would have actually looked nicer with the Vista Aero theme.

And I like a black & white , text only interface.
There's no pleasing everybody.

[jsiv]

Well, at least my complaint could easily have been dealt with by simply having Chrome utilize the user interface services offered by Windows instead of reinventing the wheel (or rather, a wildly inferior version of the wheel.)

[bokonon]

I installed Chrome briefly, but it seemed to insist on being installed on my C: drive, and I don't like to run applications from C:, so I uninstalled it.

For most of the week, my gmail account has been acting funny under Firefox -- I ask for the inbox, and the page loads, but there's nothing there. Hitting refresh reloaded it and got me my inbox, but just now the whole thing stopped working. It just re-displays my signon screen to me.

I may have to re-install Firefox 3, because I can still get Gmail through IE6 so it's apparently not a Gmail problem.

ETA: Clearing cache and cookies for Firefox resolved the Gmail issues, no re-install required.

[OnlyTellsTruths]

I installed Chrome briefly, but it seemed to insist on being installed on my C: drive, and I don't like to run applications from C:, so I uninstalled it..


Has anyone found a way to remove the GoogleUpdate.exe (it think it was called) process without searching for it and renaming it. I thought I told it not to auto-update on install, yet it still ran, and re-ran even if the process is killed. Everything's fine now that I renamed it though.

[Childlike Empress]

25 September 2008, 15:51
Iron, a private version of Chromium from Germany

SRWare, a German company, has released Iron, based on Google's Chromium code. The big difference, according to the authors on their German language-only web site, is that the features which have caused people to question the privacy of Google's browser are all disabled.

These features include Chrome's generation of a unique ID for the installation and recording the exact time of installation, Google Suggest functions in the address bar, alternate error pages, bug reporting, updating and tracking, all of which are completely removed from Iron.

heise online UK downloaded Iron, and found that despite the installer only using the German language, that installed browser functioned in English, and, after a brief examination, it did appear that at least some of the features in question were disabled. SRWare has made a Windows executable and the source code available to download.

Source with links (http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/Iron-a-private-version-of-Chromium-from-Germany--/111603)

[Upchurch]

Chrome has slowly won me over to the point that I've finally made it my default browser. The reason? Drag and Drop Tabs. Those things are the best.

If I am typing something in one tab and need to reference something in another tab in the same window, I used to have to copy the URL, open a new browser window, paste, and go. Now, I grab the tab and pull it out into a new window. When I'm done, I either move it back into the stack or close it.

Freakin' love that.

[Darat]

Isn't that standard Opera?

[Upchurch]

Dunno. Who in the world uses Opera? :rolleyes:




;)



eta: Actually, based on this (http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/tutorials/tabs/), Opera doesn't have the "drag the tab to a new window" feature. Or else they didn't highlight it in the video.

[jsiv]

Chrome has slowly won me over to the point that I've finally made it my default browser. The reason? Drag and Drop Tabs. Those things are the best.

If I am typing something in one tab and need to reference something in another tab in the same window, I used to have to copy the URL, open a new browser window, paste, and go. Now, I grab the tab and pull it out into a new window. When I'm done, I either move it back into the stack or close it.
While you can't tear a tab off (which is what you mean, right, dragging it out of the Chrome window to create a new window with the tab in it, context and session intact?), you can sort of achieve the same thing in Firefox as well by dragging the tab onto the "new window" toolbar button and it will open in a new window. It won't be the same tab though, so you'll lose any state information and contents of forms and that kind of stuff.

You can also accomplish the same by the more established method of dragging the little icon at the left side of the address bar in the same manner. This also works in IE.

I do like the idea of tear off tabs though. Firefox should add it.

[gumboot]

I am becoming increasingly convinced that Google are evil and trying to take over the world.

That said, most of the features everyone seems quite excited about seem to exist in FF, or at least the version of it I use (such as saving passwords only after they've actually worked).

Google made a great search engine, but their whole effort to move computing from your computer to their servers gets my big fat thumbs down. I want my intellectual property on my hard drive where I can control access to it, thank you very much.

[FreshHat]

Dunno. Who in the world uses Opera?

I do.

Beats the pants off the rest of 'em.

Best browser I've used, including Firefox.