It appears that Google scored a PR success with their Chrome browser. In short, the promise is a web experience where web pages are allowed to behave more like desktop applications. This is done by boosting the abilities of common web pages in terms of performance, while also allowing 'plugins' to enrich the user experience of certain other pages. As it seems, the announcement shot at the heads of people who've been holding their breath for the fabled Google Operating System. However in the following text I will demonstrate that Chrome [based on what we are allowed to know] puts strain on the Designer and Developer communities, is not innovative (save for one feature), and copies ideas liberally from Google's worst enemy.
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Member since:2005-08-22
Huh? Aside from things being sent to the search engine, which you can change, Chrome and Google.com do not communicate aside from some really mundane stuff like updates. Explain to me how that is not respecting my privacy?
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication/
Check that out, Matt Cutts debunks a lot of myths surrounding the browser, especially since there's a lot of Googlophobia lately.
Member since:2005-07-14
Have a read through Chrome's privacy policy. What I didn't like is that "Your copy of Google Chrome includes one or more unique application numbers." and "When you type URLs or queries in the address bar, the letters you type are sent to Google".
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/privacy.html
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-11-10
Oh my days, talk about jump the gun.
The whole thing is open source, all of it.
Anybody can add an AdBlock extension however they please.
Your "fork it" attitude is totally disrespectful to the hard work the engineers have done giving all this away for free. In case you hadn't realised, a Linux version is on its way.
The privacy in Chrome is actually very good (*way* better than IE), but then, you didn't bother to actually research that.
http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/privacy.html
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication/
Edited 2008-09-03 16:37 UTC
Member since:2006-01-04
Well:
Security holes:
http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Google-Chrome-beta-comes-wit...
And defaults matter. From the privacy notice:
When you type URLs or queries in the address bar, the letters you type are sent to Google so the Suggest feature can automatically recommend terms or URLs you may be looking for. If you choose to share usage statistics with Google and you accept a suggested query or URL, Google Chrome will send that information to Google as well. You can disable this feature as explained here.
And:
Your copy of Google Chrome includes one or more unique application numbers. These numbers and information about your installation of the browser (e.g., version number, language) will be sent to Google when you first install and use it and when Google Chrome automatically checks for updates. If you choose to send usage statistics and crash reports to Google, the browser will send us this information along with a unique application number as well. Crash reports can contain information from files, applications and services that were running at the time of a malfunction. We use crash reports to diagnose and try to fix any problems with the browser.
And forking is something totally normal and Google encourages the use of their source code. In no way it is disrespectful.
I will only use it once it has been audited / forked by a third party and all the addons I need are there.
Otherwise like I said it is great technology. Although I think they should have mentioned KHTML somewhere along the line. Give credit where credit is due.
Edit:
And Matt is slightly wrong on some points. For example when you surf the web without adblocker all sites you visit with google ads will track your surfing habits .. the list goes on ..
Edited 2008-09-03 16:53 UTC
Member since:2005-11-09
Member since:
2006-01-04
Well, it has unfixed security bugs in Webkit.
And your privacy is not really respected. Google wants to know _everything_ you do in the browser.
And I think they won't make it easy to build a adblock feature. ( That is why so many bloggers and the online press love it so much. )
For me all this means that:
I will wait for a Linuxfork that respects my privacy and enables adblocking.
I love the UI and the technology, but I also like Firefox and it will soon get a much faster JS engine too.
Edited 2008-09-03 16:32 UTC