New Google Browser

[Engels]

Its not simply your history, its EVERYTHING that can be parsed into raw text that you've visited. Like what I'm typing right now. And what you'll later read. Unless the text is actually an image file without actual 'texty' components, that is. At least that's the impression I'm getting.

[Morfiend]

Hummm...

I am not sure if I should be upset by this, or consider it a big "meh" and go on using Chrome.

[Krakrok]

Its not simply your history, its EVERYTHING that can be parsed into raw text that you've visited. Like what I'm typing right now. And what you'll later read. Unless the text is actually an image file without actual 'texty' components, that is. At least that's the impression I'm getting.

IE and FireFox store all of that too. Any page you ever visit with major browsers is cached on the hard drive in plain text. You entered the text and then hit post or preview; a new page was created and cached. Chrome would only be different if it stored text as it was entered character by character (like a keylogger would). The autocomplete functionality (where it does a search every time you press a character in the search box) is the same functionality which is in the Google ToolBar. Google is actually much more prone to sucking everything up into their cloud than Microsoft though.

Just as an example Internet Explorer has had a file for the longest time which is called index.dat. It stores every URL you've ever been to (and other things). Clearing history does not clear it. It is a hidden system file. The only way to delete it on XP is with a service that has System level permissions. I've never figured out how to get the permissions to delete it on Vista. On 98 and ME you had to reboot and delete it prior to the OS starting. I know all this because I've developed and updated a desktop browser history clearing application for the last 6 years. There are files full of information hidden everywhere (not to mention the Windows registry).

[Venkman]

Are you saying this concern over the Google thing is more due to the fact that more people see the cache in their face because Google is actively searching through those files too? I never knew about the IE thing you just mentioned nor the equivalent for Firefox. I guess I wouldn't be surprised, particularly not from Microsoft.

I guess what I'm asking is this: is Google is doing anything more potentially-untrustworthy than MS or Mozilla? I would really LIKE to use the browser, because it's clean and fast as heck. But I'm waiting more info on that. Like, say, from here

[Trippy]

There are two big privacy problems. One is the Omnibox which is sending everything you enter in there to Google, just because (nominally it's for them to send you back suggestions). Supposedly you can turn it off but I don't use Chrome enough to have figured that part out yet.

The second problem is the one we've been talking which is that it's indexing those files, which goes beyond what other browsers do. I.e. Google is making it a lot easier for "non-experts" that might use your computer to see sensitive information. If you or your family (assuming you trust your family ) are the only ones that touch your computer then this isn't a problem. In corporate settings its much more troublesome which was the original context for this discussion.

[Krakrok]

Trippy makes a good point that Chrome just makes access to the information easier. That is one of the reasons I don't use Google Desktop Search and have the file search indexing feature disabled in Vista.

Just another example of how Google manages access to information is MP3 files. Google has all kinds of URLs to MP3 files which possibly infringe copyright in their online index. However, they disabled the ability to search for MP3 files by file type. You can still access the information if you know how to tweak out your Google search string but it isn't accessible if you just search normally. Keeps the RIAA complacent I guess.

[Azazel]

Had a play with it. I love the speed.

Just about everything else about it is annoying, missing, or shitty.

[Grimwell]

I've been using it since it came out and love it. I don't have anything to hide so I'm not worried about the indexing (and others index too as noted, so it's no big deal to me).

Work could care less either. I'm posting from work in Chrome.

I've seen very few places where it does not work well as a full substitute, and the features that it offers are a bonus to me. Plus I like the ergonomics.

[Trippy]

Latest dev version no longer indexes SSL pages:

Build 1251 fixes bugs with areas including Microsoft's Silverlight software, tab behavior, video playback with YouTube and other Flash players, and scalable vector graphics, and it suppresses full-text indexing of sites accessed with encrypted Web connections, according to the release notes.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10042670-2.html

[Venkman]

Slashdot today points to this article.

tl;dr: Use of Chrome has fallen off. And Google is no longer advertising.

Does this substantiate the opinion of some that this was little more than a stunt to compel MS into changing something they were doing in their new browser? Or was this just a 20% project that was never destined to go anywhere?

[Mrbloodworth]

They added SVG support! lol.

[Prospero]

I suspect they'll slowly plod away on it, but I think it probably was just a stunt to force MS to make their browser more standards compliant and to keep on top of web technology. Google has a fricking powerful brand. If they want to get into a browser war with MS, they'll have a good chance of winning.

[naum]

Slashdot today points to this article.

tl;dr: Use of Chrome has fallen off. And Google is no longer advertising.

Does this substantiate the opinion of some that this was little more than a stunt to compel MS into changing something they were doing in their new browser? Or was this just a 20% project that was never destined to go anywhere?

No.

It's Google first foray into Google OS — will probably be a custom Linux variant of Ubuntu, prepopulated with Chrome to drive the Google Apps.

The browser is the biggest desktop application.

And their guard against both MS IE and Firefox ad blocking, and although people think Google is about Search, they're really about advertising…

[Grimwell]

Google can afford to ignore the dropoff numbers since Chrome isn't making money. This leaves it in the hands of the open source developers to do fun things with  it (and Google) which is already happening.

Portable Chrome

I have it on my thumb drive and it's working fine. TBH I use Chrome on every machine I have and have yet to find anything it won't do to my satisfaction. I was an avid FF user, but found Chrome to be a winner and was too lazy to switch back. It won't go away, despite the numbers.

[NowhereMan]

I'll pitch in that I like Chrome, I loved the minimalist take on the window itself and the favourites bar. I found though that it really slowed my PC down when I was trying to stream videos, I think because of having each tab operate as a separate process but I'm not sure. It would sometimes leave my comp waiting around for 10 seconds or so after switching tabs or coming out of a full screen before I could do anything.

I'm back on FF but having to use it F11'd to keep that lovely feeling of openness Chrome gave me. It feels a little less polished using it that way but everything runs so much faster. Maybe if I had a faster comp or quad processor it would have been worth continuing to use.

[stray]

Slashdot today points to this article.

tl;dr: Use of Chrome has fallen off. And Google is no longer advertising.

Does this substantiate the opinion of some that this was little more than a stunt to compel MS into changing something they were doing in their new browser? Or was this just a 20% project that was never destined to go anywhere?

Geez... I thought it was still just a beta?

[Zetleft]

Slashdot today points to this article.

tl;dr: Use of Chrome has fallen off. And Google is no longer advertising.

Does this substantiate the opinion of some that this was little more than a stunt to compel MS into changing something they were doing in their new browser? Or was this just a 20% project that was never destined to go anywhere?

Geez... I thought it was still just a beta?

As stated earlier in the thread, this is google, they only make betas.   And I went back to FF too, chrome just crashes too much.

[Venkman]

Chrome crashes too much? I've never had it crash once. I'm no developer so am not going nutso with things, but I am running Vista so you'd think I'd have problems or some such.

[Aez]

I have to relog much more with chrome.  Is it an option I can tweak?

[Venkman]

Google can afford to ignore the dropoff numbers since Chrome isn't making money. This leaves it in the hands of the open source developers to do fun things with  it (and Google) which is already happening.

Portable Chrome

I have it on my thumb drive and it's working fine. TBH I use Chrome on every machine I have and have yet to find anything it won't do to my satisfaction. I was an avid FF user, but found Chrome to be a winner and was too lazy to switch back. It won't go away, despite the numbers.

Where's a good Chrome resource site? I tried Google'ing up one, but I entered some sort of vortex of recursion 

[Morfiend]

Chrome crashes too much? I've never had it crash once. I'm no developer so am not going nutso with things, but I am running Vista so you'd think I'd have problems or some such.

Same here. It runs fantastic on my Vista Home Premium rig at home. Really really fucking fast. Cold boot its like 0.5 seconds to start up. I hope they don't abandon it. I don't want to go back to FF.

[grebo]

I was using it for a while.  I have an old crappy Barton 2500+ w/2gigs.

Flash was doing some really annoying stuff, like freezing the briowser for upwards of 30 seconds, pretty regularly.

Java was a lot slower in Chrome than in Firefox.  Other than that I loved it, went back to Firefox tho as the freezing was just too damn annoying.

[Zetleft]

I was using it for a while.  I have an old crappy Barton 2500+ w/2gigs.

Flash was doing some really annoying stuff, like freezing the briowser for upwards of 30 seconds, pretty regularly.

Java was a lot slower in Chrome than in Firefox.  Other than that I loved it, went back to Firefox tho as the freezing was just too damn annoying.

Yeah I had alot of that too, almost the same crappy cpu as well.  So I don't really blame the browser but hey firefox works so I'll use it.

[Hoax]

Where's a good Chrome resource site? I tried Google'ing up one, but I entered some sort of vortex of recursion 

Good question, on vista64 my only gripe with Chrome is that Flash plugins seem wonky as fuck sometimes.  Also how do I tell it to allow a pop up?  Shift clicking the link doesn't do it.

[sidereal]

If your Flash plugin is being wonky in Chrome, you can just kill it.  Do Shift+Escape to get to the internal Chrome task manager and kill the flash plugin.

To allow a popup, just click on the popup's header.  It should show up in the bottom right corner.

[caladein]

Random annoyance: You can't copy the contents of the history tab, which leads to images like the following. (2.2k px height picture in spoiler.)


Also, Facebook continues to act wonky with Chrome (specifically Causes as of late).  Outside of that, everything's pure-awesome at the ~two month mark.

[KallDrexx]

OK normally I don't bookmark much stuff, mostly because I can find it again by google and there is not much I want to rereference quickly.  However, is there really not one fucking way to bookmark the current site without copy/pasting the address and entering it in the "add page" dialog?   
 

[NowhereMan]

Uhh, I'm pretty sure there's a nice button just left of the address bar that bookmarks the current page.

[Grimwell]

Yup. It's a star and easy to find.

[KallDrexx]

wow, I was clicking on everything but that.  GG

Thanks.  I still don't feel that's a logical place for the button but maybe I'm wierd like that

[NowhereMan]

Heh, I though it was a bookmark folder at first, hence clicking on it and discovering it's true, hidden purpose. It's not like anything in any other default browser set up but I quite liked it once I got used to it. Like I said I really like the chrome layout, if it didn't start making my computer eat itself when watching streaming video I'd still be happily using it.

[Grimwell]

wow, I was clicking on everything but that.  GG

Thanks.  I still don't feel that's a logical place for the button but maybe I'm wierd like that

I always press Ctrl-D, which works in just about every browser. I rarely bookmark things though.

[Lucas]

And, in a surprising move, Google Chrome is now out of beta (hey, it's Google, after all :P).

[stray]

Still no Mac version, unfortunately.

[Baldrake]

I love Chrome, but went back to FF as well. Couldn't do without delicious plugin and Adblock.