Google Chrome

I use Google Chrome as my default browser. Does anyone else?

Nope. Opera or Firefox for me.

I do - I switched from Firefox when that was having DNS issues, and it's been fine, though I wish it had a better RSS reader and integration with the Google Reader.

I use Safari, as it makes me feel less homesick while I save up to replace my Mac...

Chrome's pretty decent. It's only the beta A.T.M., so I expect it will be better when the 'proper' version is released. It suits me because it's nice and minimalist - no faffing about.

Chrome is ok, although now some of the features that were specific to Chrome, Safari have now picked up on and us. I do happen to like the google search being built in to the navigation bar.
My biggest problem with it is that when using Chrome with Microsoft Live it will allow you to read emails just not to send them.

Oh. I thought that was a problem with Hotmail

Lucy McGough wrote:Oh. I thought that was a problem with Hotmail

I thought at first is was a problem with Hotmail but did a bit of testing and it's any Windows Live account you have which on firefox doesn't have the same problem 30 seconds later.
Safari at times is just as bad, and won't connect to Windows Live when it doesn't want to.

Firefox, on XP and Ubuntu.

I haven't meddled with the one running under Ubuntu yet, so it still actually works. The one under XP is now so bloated with useful addons that the floorboards creak when it opens.

Ah well. I hated the adverts on Hotmail anyway, and really love my Googlemail account. It's an ill wind...

Lucy McGough wrote:It's an ill wind...

...that blows no minds.

In other news, Chrome was the only browser left standing on Day 2 of the Pwn20wn competition. The first to fall was a Mac, 0wnz0red in ten seconds, and (alas) Firefox et al soon followed.

Right now, the most secure system is Chrome on Vista, and who'd have thunk that?

Thank God for that! My college internet was down for days (for all I know, it's still down) because some idiot picked up a Trojan from trying to illegally download eBooks.

Dave Webb wrote:Right now, the most secure system is Chrome on Vista, and who'd have thunk that?

Will wonders never cease...

Lucy McGough wrote:Ah well. I hated the adverts on Hotmail anyway, and really love my Googlemail account. It's an ill wind...

Ahh but my email account doesn't have an ads. I use Hotmail which has ads but I can ignore and I have a university email account which is ad-less so Google Chrome is less than helpful on the email front seems as gmail is marked as spam on the university filters.

I was using Chrome for a while, but have switched back to Firefox because I needed some of the plugins which aren't available on Chrome.

Zoltar wrote:

Dave Webb wrote:Right now, the most secure system is Chrome on Vista, and who'd have thunk that?

Will wonders never cease...

It's mostly due to the feature on Vista that various Mac/Linux people will be familiar with (Thou Shalt Not Log In As Root) and Chrome's "sandbox" feature - basically it treats code as processes and keeps them walled away from anything remotely useful. Hostile code can still run, it's just not going to be allowed out of the sandbox. Havbing read assorted descriptions of this cleverness, the best I can come up with is that Chrome firewalls code off from the rest of the PC.

Which is nice. I'm thinking about switching for Windows, and leaving Firefox alone in Ubuntu.

Oh, look. They're going to make a Google Chrome OS. "The web is the platform." It'll be Open Source and Linux based. Hmmmm. I dunno about this. I don't want to turn any of my machines into dumb terminals.

As for my browser, I stick with IE6 and the latest version of Firefox (and sometimes Opera if I'm on the Nintendo).

Horizon Chaser wrote:Oh, look. They're going to make a Google Chrome OS. "The web is the platform." It'll be Open Source and Linux based. Hmmmm. I dunno about this. I don't want to turn any of my machines into dumb terminals.

It's based on Ubuntu 7.04, apparently, and what Google will do is rebrand a few bits and pieces, make sure it works with a nice broad range of hardware and move it on.

Linux doesn't turn machines into dumb terminals. What it does do is prevent people who shouldn't be allowed to make stupid decisions making stupid decisions. Until they learn to access the command line and use the SuDo command, that is. Or log in as root.

So Google may have taken the astounding step of deciding that the majority of computer users are stupid monkeys and created an operating system that caters to this point. Frankly, it's nice to see a company admit that the stupid monkey quotient of their userbase is much, much larger than the computer literate quotient. If you've worked in IT, especially outside corporate or specialised environments, you'll know that what people want to do with a computer these days is:

1: Read webpages
2: Get their e-mail
3: tweet/update facebook status/make eye and brain-defying myspace pages
4: share things - photos, files, copyrighted materials etc.

Chrome OS will do those things and not much else.

They updated the Chrome browser! It's so shiny and lovely that I fell in love with it even more

By the way, Dave (a.k.a. clever person who knows about technology, unlike yours truly), if I wanted the Chrome OS would I have to buy a new computer? And have you any idea when the OS will be released?

Lucy McGough wrote:if I wanted the Chrome OS would I have to buy a new computer? And have you any idea when the OS will be released?

Short answer: No, to both.

Chrome, as said, will be based on Linux and one of the strengths of that OS is it can be used to give a new lease of life to old hardware. It should be largely old kit friendly.

Google have not yet said when it will be released.
Look for it to appear on Netbooks first, perhaps on tablets (there are at least three due out in the next year).

I was getting quite into Chrome on the PC (Safari, like iTunes, was never right on Windows, so Firefox was it's only real competition - I genuinely cannot understand how people can use IE) but now I'm back on the Mac I'm pretty-much-solely on Safari 4 and, since they're basically Webkit siblings, probably won't bother with Chrome when it comes out in Apple flavour. Although, I suppose, the more people that use Chrome the better the web will get for Safari. Which is nice.

As for the OS, I couldn't be less interested, to be honest. Not now I've got OS X again*.

So, how long before Google is as hated as Microsoft?

Graymalkin wrote:

As for the OS, I couldn't be less interested, to be honest. Not now I've got OS X again*.

So, how long before Google is as hated as Microsoft?

OS X is just a Linux distro with a different look and feel.

Google is already mistrusted - there's a lot Google (and Amazon) are doing with data, and with copyright, that they really shouldn't be. Essentially, when a company becomes big enough that the mercenary managers can get in and start having the "hey! let's rule the world!" meetings, things tend to go bad.

Chrome the OS isn't going to be a significant challenge to Microsoft, but it will be a significant challenge to Apple; the two companies are already going head to head over the phone market and they'll end up face to face on the netbook and tablet market too.

If Google can get a dedicated hardware source, as Apple have, then they might out-compete Apple, especially as Apple are so secretive about everything and still don't understand how to price kit competatively.

Graymalkin wrote:

*Although if I was still banging my head against Vista, then...

Even shorter time then it took Windows to become hated. Personally I won't be going anywhere near their OS, if you want a linux OS why not go out and find one and download it, it's free and google won't own you anymore than it already does.

Dave Webb wrote:
If Google can get a dedicated hardware source, as Apple have, then they might out-compete Apple, especially as Apple are so secretive about everything and still don't understand how to price kit competatively.

I think it depends on what kit your talking about. Apart from the fact all of Apple's stuff is designed inhouse, and it's super secretive inside of Apple as well; it doesn't seem to be a problem in fact quite the opposite. Google will compete with Apple but I doubt it'll get very far, people who have been using Mac's for year will stick with Mac's otherwise they would have swapped to Windows by now.


Also OS X is based on UNIX and to steal a quote "with all the fun stuff taken out" not linux...