The Inquisitr » google chrome

Chrome OS available as VMWare download

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:14 +0000

Google had an event yesterday to give us deets on the upcoming Google Chrome OS, and Steven told you a bit about it here.

If you are, as Steven said, swimming in the “ocean of Google kool-aid” and you’ve got to take the OS for a spin ahead of the 2010 release, with a little elbow grease and some downloading, you can get an idea of what’s under the hood. A torrent is available on The Pirate Bay, and GDGT has set up a bit of a one stop shop for all your Chrome OS under the tree box-shaking needs. (GDGT has options for running it with VMWare, Virtual Box or a USB stick.)

I’ve not had a chance to give it a go, but Engadget was on it, offering some first impressions of Chrome OS. Indeed, as Google trumpets in the video below, the speed the Chrome browser is known for seems to be the first point of woot- reported time from boot to login is about ten seconds. Apps like GCal and GMail were reported to be “choppy,” but that could be down to the relative youth of the project.

Check out the video below for a peek if you’re not enterprising enough to test run it, but if you do, let us know in the comments.

Wow … Mozilla sides with Microsoft over Google’s Chrome Frame plugin

Steven Hodson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:14:32 +0000

It was expected that Microsoft would attempt in some fashion to downplay Google’s Chrome Frame plugin that is designed to replace Internet Explorer’s web rendering engine with the one that power’s Google’s own Chrome browser. Of course they didn’t let us down in that fashion calling the plugin as a security threat for users of IE and the Internet. What wasn’t really expected was for Mozilla to come out publically on the same side of the fence as Microsoft.

Google’s reasoning for creating and releasing the plugin is that they just couldn’t get IE to play nice with their upcoming release of Google Wave so rather than wasting valuable time trying they created the Chrome Frame plugin.

While Mozilla agreed with Microsoft about the security issues Mitchell Baker, CEO of the Mozilla Foundation, argues that it could end up being detrimental to the user experience

According to Baker, Chrome Frame’s browser-in-a-browser will confuse users and render some of their familiar tools useless. "Once your browser has fragmented into multiple rendering engines, it’s very hard to manage information across Web sites. Some information will be manageable from the browser you use and some information from Chrome Frame. This defeats one of the most important ways in which a browser can help people manage their [Web] experience."

Source: Computer World – Mozilla slams Google’s Chrome Frame as ‘browser soup’

In addition vice president of Mozilla Mike Shaver had this to say in a cnet interview

Specifically, Shaver said Chrome Frame can disable IE features and muddle users’ understanding of Web security matters. And users of the reviled IE 6 browser, he added, often won’t be able to run Chrome Frame anyway because their computer is locked down to prohibit changes or lacks sufficient power in the first place.

"As a side effect, the user’s understanding of the Web’s security model and the behavior of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit. It is a problem that we have seen repeatedly with other stack plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight and Java, and not one that I think we need to see replayed again under the banner of HTML5," he said.

Microsoft’s IE needs the slap Google’s Chrome Frame supplies.

Steven Hodson — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:28:21 +0000

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer sucks monkey balls.

I don’t care which version you are using but when a site displays properly in every other browser than in any version of Internet Explorer – including IE8 – then I’m sorry but Redmond we have a problem.This was re-enforced for me the other day when I posted on one of my other blogs, WinExtra, about a new developer tool called IETester. With the program you can view any site in all versions of IE – 5.5 right through to 7 – which I did with WinExtra for the post and this is the result

Now this is the same site that display nicely in Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox. Yet when it comes to Internet Explorer it is a mess. It is no wonder that web developers pull out their rapidly graying hair when it comes to designing sites.

It’s an acknowledge fact that Microsoft is facing some serious competition in the web browser space and while IE8 is an improvement – more so for the casual surfer – it still doesn’t come close to Google Chrome or Firefox or even Safari. The only reason that it is still maintaining any kind of lead is because of its broad adoption in the corporate world. In the majority of cases I would think it is because of legacy web apps used in-hose by companies on their Intranets.

As the browser becomes more of a vehicle for the increasing use of cloud based application IE is being out shadowed by its rivals. With the introduction of Google’s Chrome Frame plugin for IE Microsoft is being placed on notice that the web will continue to move forward with or without them. Granted for Chrome Frame to work it requires both the developers to include a single line of code in their web pages and for users to download and install the plugin but that is something we could see a rapid adoption of by both sides of the coin.

I have said many times at different places that Microsoft needs to seriously rethink its whole browser strategy because they are in real danger of becoming a bit player in that space if they keep on going the way that they are. It’s not like Microsoft doesn’t have the talent to create a killer browser but between being hampered by the legacy monster they created for themselves with businesses and seeming reluctance to truly innovate in the space they are fighting with both hands behind their back.

Louis Gray asked the other day if Microsoft should fight back against the Chrome Frame plugin and other than a bunch of FUD about security as the guys over at Ars Technica reported Microsoft hasn’t said much on the matter. I don’t think they should either because this is actually a good thing to happen for the company.

Look at it this way – they could quietly accept the presence of the plugin and it’s ability to bring one of the worst browsers in the history of the web (IE6) into the modern world while at the same time start working on a new browser from the ground up. Any legacy problems due to IE not being updated to current versions could be pretty well be handled by Chrome Frame. This would open up Microsoft to seriously thinking of going the same route as both Apple and Google by building a new browser around the much better WebKit engine.

This would serve Microsoft well on two fronts. One, it would give them the potential to get back in the browser game especially if they let their incredibly talented developer loose to truly innovate in the space. Two, it would increase their open source creds that is already getting stronger given some of their more recent moves with their code and software. In addition because the WebKit is an open source project it would benefit incredibly by have three of the major software / web companies involved.

Microsoft may not like the idea of Google making Chrome Frame available but it could be a blessing in disguise if they decided to take advantage of it.

Google’s Chrome gets themed and changes the New Tab page

Steven Hodson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:00:26 +0000

I have been using Chrome since the first day that the beta made its way to the web and I haven’t regretted it at all. In fact I wouldn’t want to use any other browser so it was nice to see that a new finalized version for this great browser has been released.

Among some of the stats that Google has provided with this release

They’ve improved the Javascript performance by more than 150% since the first beta was released (very nice)
Since Chrome 2 they’ve increased the Javascript performance by 25% (even nicer)
There has been over 3,000 bugfixes in this release ( thank you !)

But most importantly for some is the theme support that is finally built-in to this release of Chrome. Once you’ve updated to the new version just click on the Options menu item and then select the Personal Stuff tab. At the bottom you will see the button to click to have Chrome display the Themes page.

As you can see there are some 29 themes currently available, including the original Chrome theme. Installing one of the themes is a simple as clicking on the Apply theme button and you are done. Myself I went with the Glossy Blue theme.

One of the other changes I’ve just noticed as well is that the layout for the New Tab page has changed as well.

Google Chrome comes to Mac, Linux…sort of

Duncan Riley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:55:11 +0000

Codeweavers, the company behind Crossover office, the software package that lets users run Windows applications on Mac and Linux as if they were native applications (ie without needing a Windows install or virtual machine) has released CrossOver Chromium bringing Google Chrome to Mac and Linux users for the first time.

Crossover Chromium uses the Chromium open source code base used for Google Chrome to deliver an all in one package. Unlike Crossover Office, Crossover Chromium is free. Installation is quick and easy, and the end result is Chrome where you didn’t have it before.

I’ve played briefly with Chrome on a Windows machine recently, and I was very impressed with the package. Although Crossover Chromium delivers a similar feature set, by not being a truly native Mac application, it suffers from an issue you occasionally see in Linux installs: font issues. The Inquisitr in Crossover Chromium is unreadable as the screenshot left shows. Other sites aren’t as badly affected, but certainly some of the leading tech blogs I visited look like they’ve been hit with the ugly stick font wise in Crossover Chromium. Obviously very high up my list today will be to find a fallback font that works with it because I’m betting this is going to be popular, but it shouldn’t be a case of pandering to one browser because it’s doesn’t do its job properly (and I’d note, I didn’t see similar issues on the Windows machine, so this is unique to Crossover Chromium).

You can grab the download here if you want to check it out. Long term though, Google needs to get its act together and give us an official version of Chrome.

(via Louis Gray)

Google Chrome comic book raises $454

Duncan Riley — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:02:17 +0000

Bidding has ended on our charity auction of my copy of the Google Chrome comic book. The final price was $454.99 AUD (about $360 USD…the exchange rate was nearly equal 3 months ago) with profits going to Beth Kanter and Beyond Blue.

Presuming payment comes through from the bidder, consider the book sold, and we’re happy to be sending payments in excess of $200 a piece to both charities.

My many thanks for all those who linked to the auction, and helped us promote it. The amount may not be huge, but every bit counts, and I’m happy we did the exercise. If anyone wants to send anything else for auction, feel free to do so.

A short note of thanks to Michael Arrington for linking directly to the auction from TechCrunch, even if he pretended it wasn’t an auction from The Inquisitr and gave us zero credit for it. Michael has decided to copy the idea, and is auctioning his copy for a good cause. He’s using a comment stream to take bids instead of eBay, so bids may be subject to negotiation and TechCrunch group think in picking a winner, but still, it’s the end result that matters. The TechCrunch auction here.

If you missed out, but would like to donate a small amount, Beth Kanter if you’re in the US, and Beyond Blue if you’re in Australia.

Buy a Google Chrome Comic Book, proceeds going to charity

Duncan Riley — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:11:45 +0000

I checked my post office box today to discover a package had arrived from Mountain View CA. Low and behold, some kind person at Google had sent me the official Google Chrome comic book that preceded the release of the Google Chrome browser. Given you can’t FedEx to a post office box, the shipment ended up in the post, hence my delay in getting it.

But what do with a brand new, unread, limited edition Google Chrome comic book? eBay FTW is the logical choice, but I don’t think it would be fair to profit from something Google has sent me.

So I won’t be profiting from it. All proceeds from the sale after costs (ebay + paypal fees) will be going to charity, split 50/50 between Beth Kanter and Beyond Blue.

You can bid on eBay directly here for your slice of Google history. Will ship to North America, Europe, or Australia/ New Zealand.

If you can’t bid, you can help us out by linking to this post and/or directly to the auction. The short cut url for the auction is http://bit.ly/ebaychrome. Lets see if we can raise four figures for two great causes.

Google Chrome taking market share from Firefox

Duncan Riley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:00:21 +0000

The immense buzz around Google Chrome, Google’s new browser has started to slow, but the first sets of numbers released show that Google Chrome has a bright future.

Hitwise reports that Google Chrome reach 12th spot in the software category Tuesday, higher that Mozilla, but below Microsoft’s Download Center.

Notably, Hitwise reported that 79% of traffic for Google Chrome came from the front page of Google itself.

There are no solid marketshare figures available from third parties yet, but for visitors to The Inquisitr, the numbers a strong. two weeks prior to launch on the left, visitors since launch on the right.

The figures show next to no drop for Internet Explorer, down only 0.41% post Google Chrome, compared to 4.71% for Firefox and Safari down 2.61%, proving perhaps that Mozilla has the most to fear from Google Chrome.

Some others are reporting a drop in Internet Explorer use, but tend to be more tech oriented blogs as opposed to having a broader reader base, which is something The Inquisitr has more of. It will be interesting to see what other non-tech blogs report in the coming days and weeks.

Update: StatCounter confirms that Firefox is taking a hit.

Google Chrome Day One: Enough Already!

Duncan Riley — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:02:17 +0000

And so it was fortold, that in its 11th year Google would step forward and deliver Chrome, and the world of browsers would never be the same. If you’ve been monitoring the Crunchmemeosphere today, that’s what you would have heard, a browser that will kill Windows, kills the operating system, and kills rogue CIA agents.

I’m possibly the only person left in the tech community who hasn’t tried Chrome. It wouldn’t install under Crossover Office and my legal Vista install under VMWare Fusion has decided that it can’t be used because the copy is illegal…the very reason I switched to being a Mac user in the first place. I could do a fresh install, but I’m not feeling compelled to do so, so I’ll just wait until the Mac version is eventually released.

There is however a pile of news out there already on Chrome. Our coverage: Google Chrome, Google Chrome anti-competitive? and Google Chrome and Firefox.

The good

The good news, delivered by Matt Cutts, is that Google Chrome isn’t as anti-competitive as we’d first thought. You can swap out search engines, or even start searches with live.com or yahoo.com to search elsewhere, but lets be honest: very few people will be swapping this out and ultimately it’s pushing Google build-in. Still, at least there’s an out of sorts so the anti-competitive cry can’t be too loud.

General reviews tend to be positive. Quick, handles javascript well, nice layout etc..

The bad.

Stupid and/ or fanboy coverage. Two strong streams: this is an Internet Explorer killer, and this is the end of the Operating System.

It’s not an Internet Explorer killer. Think about it logically: Internet Explorer users already have better choices, and yet people are still using IE6. If they were going to abandon the Microsoft product for something else, most would have done so already. IE7 isn’t as bad as some make out, but it’s not brilliant either. Internet Explorer users fall into four fields. Corporate lock-in, where the corporation standardizes around Internet Explorer. Stupidity, where they either don’t realize that there are alternatives, are unable to download an alternative; Old age: my mother prefers Internet Explorer because it’s a safe choice for her and it’s what she knows; or Grumpiness, which is basically Steve Hodson. These people aren’t about to download and switch to Google Chrome. As I wrote previously, the biggest switch will be from Firefox users, who are smart enough and think about their browsing experience to the point that they are both aware of competitors and willing to try them out.

On the OS side Mark Rizzn Hopkins says it best on Mashable: Chrome is Not a Windows-Killer. The occasionally reasonable Drama 2.0 also argues along the same lines, noting that you can’t have Google Chrome without an OS.

Conclusion

Yay! It’s exciting! Google has a browser! Yay!

Sorry, carried away in the spirit of the occasion for a second. Competition is always good as it promotes innovation, a point previously demonstrated when Internet Explorer ruled the waves and browser development went to sleep for several years, only to wake when Firefox hit a double figure market share. Google couldn’t impress Walt Mossberg, so if they can’t impress god, there is still work to be done. I’m willing to give it a shot when it comes to the Mac, but in the mean time, enough already. It’s a browser built on Apple’s open source WebKit that helps the search market’s near monopolist lock in more people. When it starts whistling dixie, and delivering me multi-million dollar Adsense checks, then I might get excited.

Google Chrome: Should You Convert?

JR — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:36:42 +0000

The cat’s finally out of the bag, and Google Chrome is actually in our hands. So is it impressive enough to be worth converting?

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with this thing. I’m quite pleased with my Firefox setup and have no burning desire to leave it behind. After two years of development, though, Google’s built a surprisingly strong overall offering. The first beta, officially released Tuesday afternoon, incorporates some interesting and appealing features — but it’s also lacking in some areas that are hard to let go.

The Good

The positives of Chrome are a’plenty. The program’s multiprocess design is probably its biggest selling point. While Firefox 3 improved performance, anyone who has numerous tabs/windows open at once knows how easily one crappy site can still take it down. Chrome, on the other hand, operates every tab and window in its own unique environment, taking much of the risk away. Navigated to a slow-running site? No problem. Just close that tab and the rest of your browsing isn’t bothered. It even runs Java, Flash, and other add-ons in their own environments as well, so some sloppy code won’t slow down even the rest of that one page.

The bare-bones design, fitting with Google’s typical clean interface approach, is rather refreshing. There’s really no wasted screen real estate in this thing. Its file-style tabs are far more intuitive than the standard in-window look, and they’re way more useful, too. One of my favorite features is being able to drag tabs in and out of windows at any whim. I constantly have to cut-and-paste URLs into different windows to accomplish this currently.

Other noteworthy options: The “Omnibox” search/navigation bar, which lets you type in either a URL or a search term without thinking twice (and even lets you customize your default search choice — it’s not a Google-only tool); the dynamic home page that shows your most visited sites, search engines, and bookmarks; and the IE-esque “Incognito” feature that lets you activate no-history-browsing. There’s also an interesting “application mode,” in which you can set a direct desktop shortcut for a Web-based application and have it open as an application rather than as a browser window. This could come in handy for things like a WordPress log-in or webmail log-in, where you don’t want to accidentally navigate away from it during the day.

The Bad

The strongest con for me right now is the lack of add-ons. I rely on several Firefox extensions, and Chrome just doesn’t support them yet. It will eventually, at least in theory — but that doesn’t do me any good right now.

The beta nature of the browser is also a serious concern. Spend some time surfing around and you’ll see some shifty stuff as far as errors and funky formatting. Some of this may also be a result of the differing standards. Google’s engineers made a point to talk about the compatibility of Chrome’s WebKit foundation — basically, they say, if a site works with Safari (which also uses WebKit), it’ll work with Chrome. That may be, but Safari only accounts for about 6 percent of the browser market. Most sites aren’t designed with it in mind…so that doesn’t do me much good either.

There’s also the notion of privacy. One wonders how much sharing Google plans on doing with its various advertising interests. Do I want them knowing every move I make during the day?

The Verdict

The speed and performance of Chrome are powerful draws and make me want to move in right now. Firefox, even in its third release, doesn’t often perform to my expectations, and it drives me crazy while I’m trying to work. At the same time, though, I’m not ready to give up my add-on power. I’ll keep Chrome on my system and will experiment with it over time, but for now, I’m holding out on a full switch until a more complete release — complete with the add-ons I need, too — is ready.

As for overall success, it’s hard to imagine Chrome being able to dethrone IE. For better or for worse, Microsoft’s browser accounts for the overwhelming majority of the market — around 70 to 75 percent, depending on whom you ask. Being that many of those users are on it simply because it’s the Windows default and they don’t know or care to change it explains a lot. Logic would tell you that most people who might try Chrome are more likely to be Firefox users — people who also tend to be the more technologically inclined and curious sort. So if anything, Chrome may steal some of Mozilla’s fire — but it seems unlikely it’ll have a significant impact on IE’s dominance, unless Google’s able to eventually secure some type of Windows distribution deal.

Oh, and Mac and Linux users: Google’s guys insisted your versions are on the way soon. At today’s media event, they said they’ve been working on all three platforms concurrently. With Windows finished first, they said they wanted to get it out to the public as soon as possible to start getting feedback. So stay tuned for your turn.

Google Chrome Search: anti-competitive lock-in or inspired thinking?

Duncan Riley — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:09:44 +0000

As screen shots start to surface of Google’s Chrome browser prior to Tuesday’s official launch, one thing is very clear: Google Chrome doesn’t have a dedicated search box.

Rising from relative obscurity, Firefox popularized a dedicated browser search box to the point that Microsoft followed with Internet Explorer and it’s near on impossible today to find a desktop browser without the feature. Google has long been the beneficiary of a dedicated search box via a financial arrangement with Mozilla, and it’s how most people start their searches today. It would seem logical that a browser from Google would offer a dedicated Google search box, and yet Google Chrome doesn’t have one.

Instead Google is offering what it calls the Omnibox, a combined search and URL space. Users can enter a URL directly or search for a term from the same location. Google Chrome will deliver previously visited pages and also Google results. It will also offer related site searches, the example given of Cars offers search IMDB in the results, a feature already offered in Google itself for sites such as Wikipedia. (click on the shot on the right to show how it works)

It’s an interesting shift in strategy away from the safe to the untested. Perhaps Google knows something about dedicated search box use rates, and has decided that the Omnibox will offer a more appealing search point. The simplicity in the idea is sound, and it does offer a cleaner browser, despite the need to educate people about the functionality.

Inspired thinking perhaps, but it would also appear to be anti-competitive as well. The Omnibox is welded into the browser itself, and unlike a dedicated search box doesn’t appear to allow for competing search engines to be selected. Google yelled from the roof tops when Microsoft tried a similar trick in Internet Explorer a couple of years ago, and yet today it appears to be pushing lock-in itself, but in a way that is worse than anything Microsoft has attempted in their browsers previously (desktop search aside). Now admittedly most people wouldn’t want to switch out of Google search, and I know despite having the ability in Firefox to do so, I never switch to the other search options. And yet just because people may not necessarily care about the lock-in, it doesn’t make it right. In creating a near monopoly in search, Google is now showing typical traits of all monopolists: lock people in and keep them there.

I could be wrong as we won’t know for sure until Tuesday how locked down the browser is in terms of search, but if it does end up being what it looks like, let the anti-trust and competitor yelling begin.

Why Mozilla should be afraid of Google Chrome

Duncan Riley — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:44:38 +0000

So after years of rumors and speculation, Google has made it official, the GBrowser, now known as Google Chrome will be released Tuesday for Windows, with Mac and Linux following.

It’s another bold move from a company that wants to be everything to everyone, but logical in the sense that Google is a web company and the one common thread that all Google users share is using a browser to access the web.

There’s no guarantee that Google Chrome will make a significant impact in browser share, and Google’s previous attempts of extending itself onto the desktop or with services like Lively have shown mixed results at best. Google does have a history of half-hearted releases without backing up the product through promotion or development post release, but I’m willing to bet that this isn’t the case with Google Chrome. Simply, there’s too much money at to be had by getting users to install it, and Google loves nothing more than looking for the next large income stream. We don’t know all the details, but certain things will be a given: Google search as default (will they offer competitors will be interesting to see), Google Toolbar functionality built in, Google page rank tracking goodness for everyone.

But who has the most to fear from Google Chrome?

It’s not Microsoft, who despite ignoring the browser for years still has around a 70% market share (depending on which set of figures you read…it’s closer to 20% among Inquisitr readers for example) and will always be able to depend on a pre-installed base of Windows users who despite having options, either don’t want to change, or don’t know how to. The organization with the most to fear from Chrome has to be Mozilla.

Consider that a Firefox user has downloaded and installed Firefox on their machine, because in Windows and OS X Firefox isn’t offered natively. A Firefox user isn’t afraid to install a plugin, or use tabs. A Firefox user looks for the best experience from their browser, and is aware that there are alternatives and isn’t afraid to try them.

The biggest thing going for Chrome out of the box is that it’s not built on Firefox, but built on Apple’s WebKit, the engine behind the Safari browser. Now Safari hasn’t been a huge success story, but WebKit has one very strong thing going for it: speed. Couple this to the Google built V8 javascript rendering engine that should in theory make Chrome quicker again. Lets presume that the feature set Google has added on top offers at least a half compelling range, and immediately Firefox users will be presented with a viable competitor backed by the largest internet company in the world.

It’s also conceivable that Chrome will start popping up pre-installed on Windows machines. Google already spends good money now getting the Google Toolbar pre-installed, extending that to pre-loading Google Chrome would seem a given. You therefore have Firefox users willing to switch if Chrome offers a viable alternative and/or is better to use, and others getting it preinstalled…not quite a perfect storm, but a compelling use case in the quest for market share.

We’re still missing one thing though from Google: the rabbit in the hat. Offering a great product isn’t going to deliver significant market share without a special mix of something to drive uptake forward. Firefox is one of the best examples of viral marketing, Microsoft uses its presence, but what will Google offer? They’ve scrapped the affiliate program for Google products, but could they reintroduce that? $1-$2 per install will immediately drive Google Chrome ads across the web. Could it be something else we haven’t seen, a cashback scheme on Google Checkout (something a little like Microsoft’s Live cashback scheme) or some sort of direct user incentive that we are yet to consider? Don’t rule it out; if Google is serious about building share, they will have a plan in place. And no matter what way you look at it, Firefox will be the browser to take the biggest hit.

Google