Google Releases “Chrome” Browser Beta
Fisted by stinkfinger under Products, The Internet, tech on Fri, Sep 5, 2008
[2] Comments
I just noticed this, and I guess it’s been available for about a week – Google has released the beta version of a browser called “Chrome,” with the following blurb: “Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.”
I haven’t DL’d it, and I don’t plan to even consider it until I can learn more about it. One thing to consider is that Windows just released XP SP3, which installed on my machine in an update a couple weeks ago, or so – and Google says that Chrome is for Vista and XP SP2…
(That’s curious, isn’t it? Microsoft rolls out SP3 a week before Google rolls out Chrome, which runs on SP2…)
Anybody tried it? Thoughts, opinions?
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September 6th, 2008 at 12:43 am
I downloaded it, ran it for about 30 seconds before I realized, eh, it’s just another browser, and I’m perfectly happy with Firefox.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:04 am
I’ll probably wait to try it till it’s out of Beta. I read quite a lot about it tonigth, and they’re pushing it like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. According to Google, the architecture is fundamentally different from other browsers, in that each tab is an independent process, separate and distinct from every other tab with their own independent processes. The idea being that if a bit of java hangs, it doesn’t impinge on the other processes and grind the browser or even the whole system to a halt. You simply close the offending tab, and everything is dandy. The same with an errant pop-up; it is “isolated” within the single-tab process, and it’s nastiness can’t spill over to the rest of the browser. You just close the tab, and all is well.
This general architecture was described as putting each tab “within a jail cell.” This supposedly has positive security implications, too.
The net result of this is supposed to be that there’s a fairly big demand on memory up front, with the offsetting advantages that 1.) memory leaks can’t happen, and the moment you close a hanging (or non-hanging) tab the memory becomes immediately accessible 2.) Although there’s a big front-end demand for memory, the overall design is supposed to limit bloat in the future.
I get the sense that they’re attempting to create a “non-crashable” browser. And it’s also supposed to integrate in various “creative” ways with Google search.
I’m not “extolling” these – this is just what I have read. And there’s a bunch of other stuff that is fundamentally different from other browsers, too.
I do find the ideas interesting, and sort of appealing, if things work as they claim they will. I think a lot of people nowadays profess to be perfectly happy with their browsers by virtue of the fact that they’ve got a buttload of RAM and hyper-fast processors to compensate for the browser’s overall poor performance and hefty demands on the system. That doesn’t make sense to me; it’s sort of “inelegant.” Kind of a “baling wire” or “spit and shoe polish” approach.