Google Chrome

For those of you who may have missed it, google has just realsed a new browser to the arena that will be paired to compete with Safari, Internet Explorer 7, and Firefox 3. The name of this wonderful new browser is called Chrome. Google’s Chrome will add some things that are never before seen in browser history, that us multi-threading.

Multi-threading is essentially creating more than one instance of a program to keep it seperate from other running processes. For each instance of a process it gets it’s own memory alocation and processor time.

What does multi-threading mean for a browser?

In a short answer it means that if a page forces the browser to crash it will only effect the single page and leave all other currently open pages running. So, say you went to a site that was trying to install malware and it crashed the browser at that page it will allow you to close only that page instead of closing the entire browser like what current browsers allow.

What does Google Chrome mean to me?

Well at the moment it is just beta software but can be downloaded <<<HERE>>> for a test drive. I am unsure about whether or not they are in a feature freeze or not but if you do install it you might be pleasantly surprised.

My personal thoughts on Google Chrome

While Google has some interesting idea’s about what THEY THINK a browser should be like I feel that they have missed the boat on something that will be openly and widely adopted in the main stream.

Chrome at the moment is still in BETA (not finished) but going by what I have noticed from the past with BETA software is that Release Candidates (RC1, RC2, RC3) are not all too far off. With that in mind about the RC’s you can quickly see that Chrome is not ready to run with the big boys and will be sparsely adopted until it places more control into the users hands.

Chrome’s interface leaves something to be desired since it doesn’t use any form of common themes at the moment. I personally find that the theme that comes with Chrome to be distracting and not what I would expect. For instance near the top of the form there are no controls such as File or Edit that I am very accustomed to and use daily in all programs (not just browsers either).

With the lack of controls I find that I am locked into a very bland and advertisement packed web experience that I don’t particularly care for. A lack of options (when you do find them) show that Google has not meant for this browser to do anything other than what they want, and since Google’s main form of income is through advertisements it looks like they are trying to protect their income.

Sadly I don’t think that I will be leaving Firefox to use Google’s wonderful new craptastic program anytime in the near future, maybe when they change their name to Microsoft, then I will be FORCED to use it.

Google Chrome EULA

Broad Stuff EULA

There are some discrepancies with the EULA (End User License Agreement) that the internet community quickly picked up on and started throwing a fuss, read below.

"11.1 You agree that this license includes a right for
Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations
or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of
syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the
provision of those services,"

So, had you not noticed that is a pretty awful EULA that can and will allow for Google to own everything done with a very restrictive browser in the first place. Though, because Chrome is open source, if a user downloads and builds the program from the source they will not have to be subjected to Google’s TOS (Terms of Service).

Since I started writing this post the Google EULA for Chrome has been updated and section 11.1 now reads as follows,

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in
Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

So there you have it folks. Google Chrome in it’s entirety.