Chrome: Test it With Us Live
Google released Chrome, its new open source app browser today, with "Another One Bites the Dust" playing while we waited on the press call. Can Chrome kill IE? Will it kill Firefox? Or will it go the way of Google Base, Google Sites and other Google Flops? The browser will be available for Windows users in 100 countries and 43 languages today.
Join us for a first look at Chrome together. We'll be walking through it live and sharing our screen just as soon as it goes live. It's Live at google.com/chrome. We'll update this post with a link for the screenshare as soon as Chrome is live and we'll post a recording of the session when we're done. The video of our session is now posted below.Thanks to DimDim for help with this. For now, join us for the press call at this link. We've got some live notes below and a slide show of the slides being used in the presentation (via CenterNetworks). What are you looking for in Chrome? Let us know in comments and chat.
Notes (thanks to J.P. Voilleque for help taking live notes):
Google will not have separate address and search bars. That's something we discussed here on RWW last month and it's a great idea. The new feature will be called "the Omni box."
Rich content is now overlaying all of the data on the web - web pages are dramatically different. Underlying browser architecture is still very much the same. There have been a great number of advances - e.g. XML allowing AJAX embedded apps. But, generally speaking browser need to be built from ground up.
Browser-based office environment is now a reality - Google Chrome addresses that reality.
Chrome - the borders of the web browser window, this browser cuts way down on the chrome seen. Transparency of web interface "gets out of the way" of complex apps and browser uses.
Multiprocess architecture allows tab-independent browsing - one tab crashes, others still function.
V8 - an entirely new Javascript option is built in.
New tabs will have all kinds of information like bookmarks, recently closed tabs and other info - highly personalized instead of blank.
Modern platform for web pages - how does it impact the interface? We don't want a bulky toolbar, etc. - the UI:
One key navigation to common sites in the "omnibox"
Tabs on top - scalable for massive usage. Grab & drag - can drag out to separate window or drag back tabs don't resize until you move mouse away after closing -
Search & Nav - address bar is search box. Taking a page from IE - "omnibox"
omnibox anticipates based on browsing history but gets out of the way if you want to simply search within a specific database or search engine. Chrome will remember your favorite search engines and create a tab shortcut to search within that engine in the future.
Tab page configured automatically based on browsing stats/history, generated on the fly within the browser itself. Can toggle more traditional bookmark toolbar - but "my tabs" captures all of the browsing history - default homepage in Chrome. Can also set start tabs or revert to the previous session's tabs.
Privacy (pr0n guard!):
Nuking your history is detrimental to the way Chrome works. Alternative:
Incognito window - "keeping information off your computer when you're browsing something that you don't want to appear in your history." "It's like it never happened on your computer." foot fungus! Yeah, that's what we're hiding.
Downloading ease of use:
You shouldn't have to do a lot to download - drag to bar at the bottom of page and then you can interact directly with the downloads - click to open or drag into your file architecture. This is kinda nice - I actually hate Leopard's downloads function, ditto "my downloads" in Windows.
Nuts and Bolts on web apps/plug-ins/Web worker conundrums:
Web applications - breaking free of the browser window - "Pinocchio feature" - "Create App Shortcuts" - can create gmail shortcut on the desktop - then can launch gmail without any of the browser trappings.
Constantly on: browser's up all the time. Browser crash = noooo! my tabs!!! So browser subdivides into multiple processes - Chrome is built to render each tab independently - if a tab crashes, the others remain. Zero hiccups. Also nice from a security standpoint - rendering engine has no privileges but communication to the browser - so it's a sandbox environment that can't infiltrate your computer.
Chrome Task manager -
Articulates everything that's going on in Chrome and reports on CPU usage, per tab AND per plug-in. (That's very cool).
Misbehaving tab - simulated hang. Tab's stuck, so you open the task manager to see what's up (note that you can still move from tab to tab even if one tab is frozen). You can "end process" a la Windows task manager and nuke the tab that's screwed up. Ditto plug-ins - can just kill the messed up plug-in content and still interact with the rest of the page with the embedded content.
Rendering engine clocks - Static content race.
IE load time - 220.64 ms per page load
Chrome - 77.28 ms per page load
11:54 AM
Danish Dude pwns web - V8 engine
From rollovers to entire web applications - Java proliferation is rampant. Web apps of all types are coded in javascript "several hundred kilobytes" of it- so the browser needs to have a platform that rocks javascript.
Aaaaand the webcast is hanging. Suffice to say V8 is going to be fast.
"I shoulda had a V8."
And that's a wrap!
EDITOR'S UPDATE: We've been all over this story this week, so here is a summary of our other Chrome coverage:
- Google to Offer its Own Browser: Chrome
- Does Google Have Rights to Everything You Send Through Chrome? (great discussion happening in the comments of this one)
- Serious Security Flaw in Google Chrome
- Video of Google Chrome Announcement
- Chrome Is Coming To Android
- Chrome To Get Extensions - Just Not Yet
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Marshall,
Thank you for the sharing. I am anxious on watching how you would evaluate this new service.
best,
Yihong
In my view Chrome does not compete directly with the other browsers, as it is not a browser, but rather the Google OS acting like a browser.
As such, it may be a threat to IE as the market share king is now way too obsolete in all technical merits and has now met with a match marketing-muscle wise. Firefox, Safari, and Opera, and most importantly web users can benefit from Chrome a lot, due to the fresh innovation and competition, and the open source nature.
I wonder how Firefox finances (Google is a big contributor) will be affected, though.
I write more about this in my blog @ http://www.pannonrex.com/2008/09/02/google-chrome-the-google-os/.
Let's mash it up ....
Thanks Marshall, looking forward for your evaluation.
Posted by: Ozgur Poyrazoglu
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September 2, 2008 11:25 AM
Documenting people's experiences throughout the day at:
http://ChromeSpot.com
I really like the ability to strip all the browser look and feel away. I guess this really means that the distinction between thick and thin client apps can finally be done away with. The user can focus on the task at hand - and developers can create process specific web applications using the same underlying infrastructure. Very cool.
Posted by: Mark Bean
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September 2, 2008 11:41 AM
It seems to me that Chrome is more likely to compete with Apple. With all of google's simple to use software products that work extremely well together, they remind me way more of Apple. Plus, fanboys and early adopters are the types that are going to flock to Chrome. Those people are often Mac users. If users of IE haven't started using Firefox yet, why on earth would they move not only their browsing habits to Chrome but also their entire OS-use to a browser? People who use microsoft products need to be weaned off of their familiarity...and a product that is taking early adopters by surprise is not going to be what does that. Any tech product needs to start with early adopters - and those are not the ones using IE.
I just dl'ed Chrome and my fist impression is: Clean. Clean UI. It seems uncluttered.
Looking forward to seeing yours and others' impressions here!
Any more revealed how Google will work with plugin developers? We're curious how they expect to work with add on developers like iterasi.
Note similarities in Android's browser and Chrome:
"...Why use a custom VM instead of the JVM? Dalvik is apparently optimized to allow multiple instances of the VM to run simultaneously, even on devices with meagre memory. Each Android application runs in a separate Linux process, which is how the overall runtime achieves dynamic installation, activation and deactivation of applications."
- November 13, 2007
So I have actually been been using Chrome for the past 8 months ( it's the Android browser with a prettier UI? ).
Very cool developments. While I am not happy to be developing for yet another browser, I am excited that this browser is focused on enabling richer experiences with Web Apps. Not only will this help Web App performance, I think it will further the genre with more capability.
Now I need to go and test the hell out of this to make sure that my Web App is rendering well and working in full on this browser! I feel for Iterasi as well as they will now need to have a plug in for this browser. Get it quick boys, b/c I want to transition over!
Firefox 3 uses lesser memory than Google Chrome. The base browser itself uses about 75MB and with 5 tabs opened, the total memory usage is around 200MB. Firefox with the same number of tabs is less than 100MB. Makes me wonder how efficient Chrome is.
Really "glad" that after the hype, designers and coders will have one more browser to add hacks for. Hopefully Chrome is going to be standard-compliant, for real, not only in statements and interviews.
@Alex: Chrome uses Webkit to render pages so if the site looks good in Safari it should look identical in Chrome.
Most web developers use safari anyway so chrome should be just the same.
Incognito mode? Try to login in incognito mode in your Google account, do a porn surf and afterwards check your google history. It's amazing! If you checked the store my username/password option, your un/pw are pre-filled in incognito mode. And, in incognito mode there's a piece of text telling you what the impact is of incognito mode. Did you see Google self in the text? Me neither.
Video about this is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU1J1f5Qhwk
I'm a little dis-appointed that it doesn't appear to be 100% opensearch compliant.
It recognizes the browser search plugin, but doesn't pick up the name, only the URL as a default.
Jesus Christ.
Am I the only one who thinks Google does not give a damn to enter the browser business? It's all about the Open Source, to drive things forward, just 'hey guys I am independent, so play nice' and stuff. Come on!
google chrome breaks all my prototypejs scripts. They all worked fine in IE and Firefox.. Will try to find out what the problem is...
It appears that Chrome is loading pages faster. I visit http://www.orlandosentinel.com my local newspaper frequently. In IE it loads slow, in Chrome it was almost instantaneous.
I'm totally impressed by the speed. Here's some quick benchmarks I did under VirtualBox. I know the other browsers (esp Safari) will catch up really soon, but WOW nonetheless: http://tinyurl.com/ChromeBench
The technical slide show was very convincing. Separate processes, control of privleges. All very sound from a technical point of view. It's not surprising, that it uses more memory.
It did a good job of importing from my extensive Firefox environment.
So - where is the menubar? What am I missing?
The possibility of spawning a very lightly-chromed chrome is great for me.
Isn't it interesting that a web search for "chrome" leads to a very large number of false positives in at least two major wrong directions. And Google is king of search!
Posted by: tdigennaro.pip.verisignlabs.com
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September 2, 2008 3:57 PM
Even better than tracking along on the video conference was looking up with eyebrows raised to see similarly raised eyebrows across the table.
That and "Bohemian Rhapsody" blasting at Stumptown as they got into the nitty gritty.
Chrome installs itself in User Documents, so if you run as a limited user, you need to install as that user, rather than administrator, which is normally required for installations
There is absolutely no way I would EVER USE THIS BROWSER. Why?
I bring your attention to Clause 11:
"11. Content license from you
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. 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. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 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."
WTF? Basically, any data you enter Google owns. Come on - get serious. Why would anyone use a browser with these terms?
That's odd. That language is pretty standard for sites with user-generated content (like gather.com, for instance), but why use that with a browser?
@14, 15...
Er... no. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurafire/2822606444/
Now, yes, that's not CRITICAL... but they're not identical. So now you will need to check and see if Chrome is being used by a reasonable percentage of your site's visitors and, if so, you need test against it too. At least with this beta, you can't rely on the fact that it looks fine in Safari.
This kind of licensing slip has happened before... the lawyers get to copy-and-paste from old stuff and it takes some time for more reasonable heads to read through it and realize it doesn't make sense for the new application. Ask Matt Cutts to look in on it.
Secrets Commands of Google Chrome
Has anyone bothered looking at Google's standard account TOS? It says exactly the same thing. Anything you post or type or upload on a Google service is theirs, that's what you agree to;
For God's sake people, come on! It's not like they're going to steal everything on the internet that get's put on there via Chrome!
Matt Cutts to the rescue...
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-license-agreement/
Chrome is still a bit buggy. I cant scroll up with my scroll wheel in Chrome. I can only scroll down.
Pages in Frames may display poorly (a product of using Webkit). The frame edge shows as a big white bar when it should be invisible.
Editing is buggy in things like the Chrome Bug reporting dialog.
google will change face of internet again :)