With so many Google goodies I feel like I need to continue my posts into the weekend. Up this round, Chrome, Google’s browser.
Google released Chrome for Windows over a year ago. Since then, those of us with computers that work have been waiting anxiously. Finally, earlier this week I was able to download a beta version of Chrome for Mac, just a day before it was publicly announced.
The Good:
First impressions are stunning. I don’t know the technical reasons why, but it is fast. I’ve heard speed used as a reason to switch to Firefox from Safari, but never noticed much of a difference. That is certainly not the case with Chrome, it’s almost been like experiencing broadband for the first time again. Other benefits include stability, if one tab crashes it doesn’t affect the others.I was able to easily import bookmarks from Firefox. Also, it just looks good. Very clean interface. Tabs at th top give a slightly larger viewing area. All around a very well designed browser. Firefox better watch out.
The bad:
The only drawbacks I’ve experienced are no doubt due to the fact that I’m using a beta version that has not even been released for a week. It does not display RSS feeds properly. GoogleGears is not supported, so I must still use Firefox for syncing and using the offline versions of Gmail, Calendar, and Docs. These, however, should be fixed in time. There also is currently no support for extensions [plugins], but seeing as the Windows Chrome just got extensions the day Mac Chrome was released, I’d say they are sure to follow for Mac as well.
Bottom line:
Beautiful, blazing fast browser. It’s also going to be the basic interface for the coming Chrome OS, a cloud computing OS that is supposed to hit the market next year. I’m considering getting a netbook when it comes out, and consider Chrome browser to be good practice to familiarize myself with it. I challenge all of my readers to try Chrome for at least one week. If you don’t like it, switch back and tell me why you didn’t like it. If you have used it already, I’d like to hear your thoughts!
