So is no one going to mention the extreme vulnerability of unencrypted passwords in the options menu? I don't like the idea that my son can see my bank's password, enabling him to change it. I take away HIS allowance, not vice-versa.

adamsimon

My reaction to Chrome is that it is alright to muck about with occasionally...

But I will definitely be staying with Firefox. ^__^

Asian Angel

Didn't think it was all that. Not even speedier as others claim...maybe I just can't tell.

JiltedCitizen

Chrome seems pretty fast to me on XP, and really no worse on my memory footprint than FF3, depending on what tabs you've had open and for how long. I do miss the mouse gestures and focus last selected tab Firefox extensions, but it seems to be working well for a day one beta.

All of you tabs do actually exist in separate processes (take a look in process explorer or type "about:memory" in the omni-bar), so when you close them, they give back all of their resources.

I'll have to keep experimenting with it, but it looks like a contender so far.

mochamatt

@Sean O: FF extension compatibility would be a mistake in my books, making the browser alot slower and less secure

bagano

@Sean O:

The "hints" on the scrollbar showing where the hits are on a long page when you search is really a nice touch.

jsmorley

@c2d: i disagree, i think this is faster than opera

bagano

@fairlane64: It works for me and I have the same setup as you do.

cipotefello

Chrome simply screams. Can't wait for native extensions or, heaven forbid, FF extension compatibility/conversion. Firebug & Adblock keep this from being an instant slam dunk. Also, it seems like scrolling is a page-at-a-time wonky affair -- hopefully that can be tweaked.

So many nice touches, though. Like scroll bar highlighting to point out inline search hits. (did you notice?)

Sean O

I love how quick v8 is. Beyond that though, all of the new features that I like are available in Firefox with the use of extensions that I already use. Plus, I lose the use of the other features I get from other extensions in FF.

I don't like that, at least apparently, google has decided to not use the UI elements of the operating systems the app is going to be running on. For some reason, audio in flash videos do not work for me.

Overall, pretty interesting, and will like to see where it goes, but at this point, I think I will be sticking with Firefox.

darundal

Some really nice ideas... but not much reason to switch from Firefox. I wish they would just put the effort into Firefox development instead. But perhaps this is aimed at a different, zero-config market segment. In that case, its navigation capabilities are superior to Internet Explorer. So if they can get it pre-installed on enough systems then it might give Microsoft a run for the money. My verdict at this point is that it feels like Firefox Lite.

brentrowan

I guess I can use it at work. tis fast! Better than firefox on that part so far.

Baby Farmer

No AdBlock, no deal.

iMike

DL, Install, Crash, Rinse, Repeat.

I ran it through three times, and it never worked.

Xerloq

I REALLY like this. It feels a lot more modern than Firefox, much more chic and sexy.

I really like the task manager that it lets you see, and I think it's funny that they have a "stats for nerds" section. It's also great that they show you both the Chrome memory stats and the Firefox memory stats (if it's open, I guess - mine was). Chrome was using about 50% of the memory that Firefox was...

Very impressed, Google. Just might give this a fair chance after all.

wakeboarderal05

Yea, its cool and all, But I use my Firefox with grease monkey extensions waaaaaaay too much to give it up for Google. ya know, like better Gmail 2! Do you know when they are going to put in google tool bar?

BlackjackFox

did anybody else notice the striking similarity (read: almost total sameness) of chrome's top right window controls and vista aero? wtf? anybody?

CJF

Using it a work like the fact that it opens up quickly and it has isolated crashes the omni bar I haven't checked it out yet, also im writing this from within the browser quick to open some video sites, gonna have to wait until i get home to put this thru its paces one question though will it work on VISTA and how will it be handled in that enviroment??...

Guardiansentry

Great browser but I won't ever switch from the 'Fox... Unless.

I'm not big on "Big Brother" watching out on the things I do so I'd like some confirmation that there is no phoning home.

malnourish

I thought one of the main tenants was "1 tab = 1 process." I opened Google reader in a tab and using the built in task manager (right click the ugly blue title bar and select "Task Manager") saw that it got it's own process. I control clicked a link that I wanted to read. This tab was part of the same process as Google Reader.

It seems the only way to get a new tab is to right click -> Open in New Tab or to control-T and type/search for your destination.

Derek

@Blaker und tanya.peacock: Anyone else think Google wouldn't put in Adblock, lest it be used to block Adsense ads? I mean, we've already had a rather spirited discussion of ads here (and we all remember that, don't we?) but even if it's limited to blocking the Sweet Merciful Crap Why Do We Have Flash?-type ads, we're all going to be winners.

drjayphd

Just got it installed and have started mucking about with it...looks to be really fast, but I still love Firefox the best. ^__^

Seems like all of the text is automatically a size smaller on any of the webpages that I open up in comparison to Firefox, Opera and IE on my computer. Anyone else noticing the same thing?

Was really disappointed that this was not offered in a stand-alone install file (especially considering that this is supposed to be open source). :(

I prefer to have stand-alone install files for when I have just finished a fresh OS install on a computer but do not want to have to connect to the internet until I have everything set up the way that I like.

Asian Angel

It's fast and beautiful. But without Roboform support, I'm lost. I'll take it out on special trips, but for my everyday ride, I have to stay with Firefox....

bradnh

Using synaptics touchpad on Windows XP SP3. Scrolling up does not work for me either.

fairlane64

speed and application mode = gold.
otherwise, not worth the trouble. might keep installed just for gmail and google reader.

surfmadpig

I am also a tentative fan. It's looking to be in excellent form, despite just making its debut. I'll keep playing with it, but for now, thanks for the notifications and screenshot tour post lh~

Descent

Wow - I love it. It looks so strange on my screen and it took me a while to figure it out. IE has a small pixel width bar down the left hand side of the window (the window frame I suppose) which isn't present in Chrome and it makes the web page look so much bigger. Who'd have thought such a thin line on the screen would make such a difference.

austin316gb

@AustinS: i also have synaptics touchpad and its fine for me, but several other people have reported this

vista only bug??

bagano

Not impressed... its Google yes but Firefox still has what i want.

olpmcg

Pretty much agreeing with everyone else here. If we get an ad-block and the ability to add add-ons. I'm switching.

It's lightning fast with gmail and other web-apps.

Though I'd love to be able to monitor my gmail from inside chrome or at least be able to put it on my vista sidebar or something. I don't like having a cluttered task bar with mediamonkey and various other windows open all the time.

Whenever they get add-ons I have a feeling that a good number of users will be switching.

tanya.peacock

Need. To. Have. Adblock.

Blaker

So how is the memory usage? I might go with Chrome on my RAM-handicapped lappy (maxes out at 512MB) and save Firefox for the desktop. If it's faster than Firefox, as per c2d, it might be worth it.

drjayphd

Why is Opera the only browser that comes with mouse gesturing by default... Is it that absurd? I hope they make extensions like FF because I personally can't use a browser that doesn't have mouse gestures.

Alicemagic

Also posting from Chrome. Like everyone said, it seems faster then firefox, but that might be just due to the fact that i have firefox loaded with extension.
I do like the tabs, and i love the ability to drag a tab out of the window, or between windows.
Not sure if this will replace firefox for me, but it never hurts to have competition.

Pasha

@warped2049: Looks like it fails Acid3, but gets to 76 (which is better than most other currently released browsers).

Granted, that is only when the Acid3 site responds.

Dianoga

considering this is beta, it's really good. I can't imagine what will 1.0 be like...

VakeroRokero

First impressions...

Speed and stability are top-notch. Gmail is blazing. Noticeably faster than FF3 and that's saying a lot.

Needs Adblock, mouse gestures, *bookmark editor*. Tabs are inconsistently opening in separate processes, which is weird. If I open new tabs from Netvibes, they're all in the same process. That's kinda sucky.

No "Home" button by default is lame, but it can be turned on in the options.

Overall, they've provided a fantastic foundation, but it really lacks the basic amenities. Back to Firefox until the addons come. Then it's all over.

greeze

@djlurch: thats not the point at all - the outstanding feature from chrome is its speed

bagano

Google has taken the Opera UI and added a few new things to the UI. Chrome is faster than Firefox, but Opera is faster still. With some more work, I think Chrome can do better than Opera, which I think will then be the end of Opera. I like Opera, and will be sad when it goes :(

c2d

Favorite1: Separate processes for each tab, which actually is using needed system resources separately. This optimizes the overall browsing experience, by using system resources effectively.. excellent idea. However, I am little concerned about security too.

Favorite2: Memory monitor, must for geeks/OCD like me..:-)

Favorite3: Task Manager, Again brilliant idea to control the tabs separately from a task manager, the task manager also shows the real time memory updates..

Till now I haven;t used any google GEARS functionality, but it is helpful tool to extend web applications interactions towards user's desktop

rapid.fish

@Vertigo50: I agree with you.

I really need Adblock in any browser I'm using. I use Opera at work and firefox at home. Both have adlocking capabilities.

But so far, I have used Chrome for google docs and sliderocket. Both work faster in chrome than in prism. But again, chrome lacks of add-ons, so I'm staying with firefox and prism.

Oscar

Interesting. I'm posting from chrome now...I don't really notice any speed difference(I'm a 2 or 3 tabs max kind of person) but it definitely takes up less screen space..

Ajh

So why can't I even get it installed? It throws errors on the EULA page in both Firefox and IE7...

eightseventeen

Is there a way to access Google Bookmarks via the browser's interface rather than having to go to the Google Bookmark web page?

skadoo323

Not ready for prime time, doesn't do http to https redirection on sites that have it enabled. Also has trouble running websites which use aspx com componenets. Not sure how many sites use the second, but the first one is a must have.

Stephen

How very interesting this browser is. I'll use it, sure, but I think I may go back to Firefox eventually. We'll see.

Happy_Man

Hmm... chrome crashes whenever I try to open the options dialog. May be a 64-bit xp thing. Other than that, the interface is pretty slick, and speed is great.

Dukeman330

Can someone check something for me. I have a Synaptics touchpad on my laptop and I can't scroll up, only down. It's very frustrating, does anyone have this same problem using the virtual scroll feature of their trackpad?

AustinS

@shinta42: check out my post about the fine print "Google reserves the right to automatically update and install Chrome".

guyfromtrinidad

@geekgrrl77: the Official Google Mac Blog put up a post earlier today letting us (Mac users) know that they're hard at work. But won't give a release date, or even hint at one.

ross.m

Biggest pet peeve -- new tabs opened from existing windows automatically take focus. IE and Firefox let me new tabs in the background. This is especially important from Google Reader, where I like to open a whole bunch of articles to read later.

I want an about:config box like Firefox so I can really get under the hood.

The speed is astounding, though.

Bonus feature -- I just discovered I can resize this text input box on the fly! That's awesome.

Give me some plugins (Adblock plus & a twitter client) and I'm switching.

dotyoureyes

1) If you tell it to delete your "history" it seems to delete cookies too (I had to login here again after)

2) I think the speed-dial like new tab is cool, but it should be a configurable thing, that you can set up and keep as you like, rather than just showing recent or most visited. I like to set up my 9 sites I always go to every morning in speed dial, and hate that the links on google's version move around and disappear. Just because I just visited www.bigboobies.com doesn't mean I want it to replace www.lifehacker.com in my speed dialer...

3) If you get too fast closing tabs and close the last one, the browser shuts down. This will take some getting used to.

jsmorley

So far, I'm a fan. I've got my dedicated Gmail window, and everything I need works (so far). I'm looking forward to add-ons, greasemonkey and adblock included.

Better gMail and gReader for Chrome? hint-hint, Gina!

Juice Box Hero

Wow. It feels really fast and smooth. I'm sort of missing my middle-mouse-click-scroll feature but all in all it looks neat!

Although, I'm not sure I'll use continue using this...I mean Google already maintains 60% of my life...

bluegene

I'll have to spend more than five minutes playing with it, but underwhelmed so far. I do like the Prism-style web app shortcuts, but of course, we already had Prism.

I agree with Nick Carr that Google probably doesn't intend for Chrome itself to gain widespread adoption, but to have its open source code base integrated into FF for better web app support.

Andre Kibbe

so far i like it, but it wouldnt load some pages for me. i logged into facebook, and it wouldnt let me check my inbox as well as various other links. and then i tried to log on to myspace and it wouldnt let me at all. it keeps telling me the page is temporarily unavailable. of course, theyre all working fine on firefox.

it would also be nice to be able to change the skin.

PaaatrickBabyBoy

I love it, can't wait to get home and have fun trying to crash it(I mean fully test it). Anyone know if it would be possible for this to be a portable app(since it is open source could be a possibility) Today is a big day for Google any one try out the new name tags feature on Picasa Web Albums yet (which strangely doesn't seem to be working in the chrome).

guyfromtrinidad

@Vertigo50: +1 to that... I miss my adblocker... *opens firefox*... I MISSED YOU ADBLOCKER!!!

MaxGhost

just installed chrome.. it is super fast !!
however, the web looks very very different without adblock plus !!
when google comes up with extensions...it will blow away every other browser in the world ;-)
I am a little concerned that chrome might eat into firefox's market share. Since most people who use firefox are a little advanced/adventurous than the rest, so they would switch to chrome the first.
most grandmas on IE 5 or 6 wouldn't hear about chrome until it comes in the newspapers ;-))

flash2004

As an ex-firefox, and current opera user, I was excited when I read it was supposed to do ajax very quickly. in practise, it seems to only be marginally better, albeit this is a beta build.

the clean interface is something I like, and well, they stole speeddial from opera.

memory usage is higher than opera, and having multiple processes is a great idea: I just hope they can somehow 'group' them in the task manager during later versions, just to keep clutter down.

Also, I hope memory usage will drop in final versions.

unruled

1st impressions:

tried to install it in sandboxie and no go, pages don't open at all..

installed it the normal way, opened two pages, one being youtube and the other porn intensive, after a few time seeking forward the video, it froze and needed to kill it through task manager. speaking of which, you'll see a lot of "chrome's" in the list, the more tabs open, more chrome's...

it load pages fast and the scrolling is very smooth. as it is the app feel.

search inline it's like spotlight popping up at right corner below address bar and with word counts.

if you're listening to some music in youtube and change to other page sometimes it'll interfere with the sound.

more testing...

code3

I read the comic and really like the approach they've taken under the hood - sandboxing each tab to its own process will be more resource-intensive up front, but it means that when you close a tab, you get back ALL your memory from that tab - unlike the infamous gradual memory bloat of another browser...

The greatly accelerated Java sounds pretty cool too. Generally, I really like the fact that they took that extra step back and asked, what should a browser built from the ground up for today's web look like?

Since I'm a big fan of Gmail, Gcal, GDocs and more, I'm also excited at the prospect of a browser that will probably play really nicely with those apps and allow for even better integration in the future.

Also excited about the speed dial feature. I've tried two versions of this in Firefox - one looks nice, showing a panel of 9 quick links, but is static. The other is dynamic, showing links to pages based on actual use, but it shows way too many to be useful. Sounds like Chrome has a nice solution.

Curious about bookmark synching in Chrome though...

djnrempel

why did it install a process called googleupdate.exe???

shinta42

Oh, I want to play, but it isn't out for mac yet. I wonder how long development will take... I signed up for email notification anyways...

::shrug::

geekgrrl77

i can't see a compelling reason to try this (i'm on a mac so i'd have to wait). If I was student and did a lot of researching the search function might come in handy. There isn't, and likely won't be, an Adblock (which is what I love about FF).

I'm willing to check it out for speed, but it won't make up for the lack of extensions for me. I have data privacy concerns (why else would Google be doing it, if not to collect data?). I guess Google Gears would be the only feature that would make it worth checking out. But how often are people offline (tethering, cellular, public wifi)?

rkcrawf

It feels like firefox, A LOT LIKE FIREFOX, but the one thing that threw me initially is the positioning of the open new tab in the right click menu. it's at the top, and now I have to look to see that I'm not opening a new window instead. But, Chrome is a very innovative browser.

Kupaka

I just want to be able to have a list of bookmarks with out having to have a toolbar to do it. It looks nice and Logmein sucks in it. But I guess that's a third party not really Google.

JohnnyP

I just tried it. It crashed when I tried to view this, no less.

I'll be sticking with FF.

Harrison20

@djlurch: LOL, I'm loving this new browser and for some reason I also love my zune more than any other Multimedia player.

As you mentioned, yes, Firefox already does these things, however, I just never could get used to it, it wasn't for me so I sticked with IE even though it sucked.

I don't know why, but I feel that Google (as always) tries to balance again advanced features (that Firefox already have) with simplicity. (That's also why I chose zune, I just hated how I was supposed to navigate iPods :P)

DirectAnon

I'm loving it already. Is there any benefit to passing Acid 3 (which it doesn't on my machine)?

Josh

So far, looks good. Just what I like, a clean window browse.

zaxl

I am using it right now....

I like the increased speed. It is a little bit quicker and that is nice for sure.

I miss my FF add ons (I am a web developer).

The "application mode" is awesome for my mail and reader. w00t for that.

One question... Why do all textboxes have draggy things?!?

jafoca

I wish there was an adblocker as effective as adblockplus

Jshaw

@warped2049: It actually fails acid3 sadly

DementisUnus

If it's not broke why fix it...
Isn't Firefox all we ever needed in a browser?
I doubt anything close to the time and energy put into ff has been put into Chrome.
I for one will give them some time to get the inevitable bugs out, and hopefully add some functionality, the options menu is a joke..

joshfryguy

you guys should do a post comparing all of the 'new' features on chrome with other browser. because none of this stuff is new, it just seems like a combination of everyone elses ideas

natenovs

Any word on development for Mac yet?

realdeal42

With gmail, it's definitely faster, but not a whole lot faster than my FF3 w/lots of addons. This is on my desktop, though. I'll have to try it sometime with my laptop, as gmail is generally noticeably slower there.

aj_robins

Show some Vista screenshots. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised after installing it, having only seen those candy blue screens before.

Wandel

Just as I expected.
Just noticing the spellchecker as I type, unfortunatly it seems to only check german. Still got to figure this one out.

chaos0815

Looks good, feels good - this could be something, in time.

The omnibar feels very intuitive - I prefer this over the FF "AwesomeBar"

However, it's not compatible with "click-scrolling". Safari for Windows has the same problem.

kerryo

Your location-bar keywords import from Firefox... now ask me how you edit them? Right click the omnibar and click edit search engines... Cheers!

scottpope

I got a 76/100 on Acid 3, also the speed is lightning fast. I'm even running in on a winXP VM through virtualbox and the thing is screaming through rendering even the most javascript heavy of sites. I'm pretty impressed so far.

eskimobob

It renders pages insanely fast. Two problems: scrolling up using touchpad doesn't work and, for some reason, Chrome uses IE's proxy setting - even if "use proxy" option is not checked.

Sanja

I can not seem to install, I assume it is because I'm behind a firewall at work. It is unfortunate that there is no way to configure that in the installer (yet). I'll have to wait until I get home. So far I like what I've seen in the screen shots!

watcher_b

@djlurch: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Skeezy

What about plugins like flash and such. Anyone tried that yet?

jsmorley

Posting from it now. Lightning fast. I'm really liking it. Also, it passes the Acid2 test perfectly. Nice work Goog.

tommertron

I like how you included links to firefox extensions so we can emulate Chrome... Or is Chrome emulating firefox? Or is it life emulating art?

RenRen

I am now installing but just read an interesting article over at cnet about the fine print that our Google overlords have included. Hint - targeted ads. Of course the way the writer puts it leads to speculation on how or if it will be done but still have a look.

guyfromtrinidad

Posting from Chrome running on WinXP SP2. Rendering of sites is very speedy, especially JavaScript-heavy web apps like iGoogle. No stability bugs so far with various tabs open. The GUI is clean but there are some interface bugs; then again, this is an early version. Amongst them is the inability to hold the middle mouse button down and scroll. Interesting interface features include having your selection on screen (iGoogle tab, this text box, etc) surrounded by a border, and it looks like text-boxes are resizeable(such as this one.)

send9

Headline: New Google Browser does dozens of cool things!
Byline: That Firefox already does.

Knock knock
-Who's there?
It's me, I'm new and better than the other guy
- Oh it's you Zune!

djlurch

No Adblock Plus = not ready for me yet.

Vertigo50

Seems fast, looks nice, and I like the new tab page. However, I want add-ons. Also, I like the idea of connection from the web to the desktop, but I'd like it even more if the connection were the other way around (eg: manage your desktop from the browser)

jokermatt999

So far, not so bad... posting from Chrome right now. Speed seems pretty good and page scrolling is very smooth. Pretty limited, as mentioned, in the "tweaking" department, but I'm excited to see where this goes...

briguy73

I really like the inspector, so far. But I do still like firebug for firefox a bit better.

Ayeco

great web browser... it could use a few add-ons.

fishlips20

@aviL: Like I said it seems to add up to be more then Firefox. However I don't mind it I guess.

Skeezy

curious about process handling- i've read each tab is placed in its own sandbox and maintains its own processes- if this is true, what's the impact on resources? sounds to me like it may be pretty resource intensive....
thoughts?

aviL

Its beautiful. My favorite: Right Click > Inspect Element. Mini firebug built in. Resources tab is helpful too.

I guess, we need to spend at least a week to see if the changes are worth the switch.

Nikhil Kumar

Speed wise it's great.

The Multi Processes however seems to add up to be more then Firefox uses @_@

Skeezy

so far it's pretty nice, but not mind-blowing. i want to see how it does with Acid3, but my weak connection keeps dropping out on me.

warped2049

speed?

beckkl

I like it :D thanks for showing me the app thing

wescrock

@dotyoureyes: You can open new tabs in the background with Ctrl-click. I've been doing this from Google Reader for the past hour and it works beautifully.

processfive

The Find function is also done very well. Find is one of those things... like in IE, I Was like "Well this works exactly how I'd want it to..." then I use FF and I'd say, "Well damn, FF has find figured out even better, can't be improved." Chrome's find is better -- it automatically highlights all instances of the phrase, the first one is hgihlighted in a deeper red, all others in oranges. You cycle through them like usual.

MichaelBrazell

I'm really keen on the look & feel of the Find function (Ctrl+F) for looking up text on a page. It drops an inconspicuous text-entry box at the top-right of the window you're browsing and shows you how many results, as you type.
Perhaps the neatest feature is that for a particularly long document - it shows you where the results are on the scrollbar - so you can see where most of the instances of the text you're searching for show up.

Christopher

a first look is pretty sweet, but one thing I've noticed is a somewhat of a sucky address bar when you type 'lifehacker' in to the address bar, it gives me a google search of 'lifehacker' (like Opera, which is why I dont use it) it would be better if it just took me to lifehacker like firefox

a plus is that it autocompletes 'lifehacker' with a .com by checking my history but if its not in my history than it is annoying to get to a google search page

and the tab bar up top is kind of annoying....

metalmarious

Liking it a lot so far. Speed is great, I like the layout of everything. I just made it my primary browser in windows just to force the concept through. I think that it renders pages better than FireFox.

ALthough any idea why I can't middle-mouse scroll? THis used to be a problem in FF, but it seemed resolved many years ago... I use that for a lot of tabbing/chord sites that don't have a built in scroll function.

MichaelBrazell

Looks good. I like FF a lot, but all my bookmarks are through the Google toolbar anyway, and I barely use any extensions. Depending on where this goes, I may have a new browser.

sweetchuck

Does Chrome support keywords for search & bookmarks?

sbw07

I like it as well. The speed is great, but probably because my firefox has about 10-12 extensions.

brian7000

Folks, there is NO WAY Google is going to provide ad-blocking of any kind for its browser. Ads are how they make money.

Rhywun

Chrome extensions/add-ons support is in the roadmap.

nerdly

@AustinS: I'm having a similar problem with my Synaptics touchpad. I can scroll down, but not up. That got annoying, so I'm posting this from Firefox.

Andre Kibbe

@shinta42 guyfromtrinidad: Like you said, It's nice, but googleupdate.exe and the licence agreement are the big deal breakers for me (foxmarks being another).

While it's technically open source, It looks like google's got the "beer" down, but they need a little more work on the "speech."

GrayBird

Great app!
but how to run AdBlock Plus? :/ and other fev addons? :/

krecio

Eh it's ok I would like to see some of these features built into firefox but I love my addons too much and really feel like all this browser is going to do is force the bigger browsers (ie8, firefox, safari) to include or emulate some of the unique features here.

Woodsyx

hmm, it seems to be REALLY stealing my cpu when i click a link/refresh 34% cpu usage for 1 link - i have core 2 duo 2.0Ghz

bagano

I don't think there is anything more dope to do in this browser than watch the following video in an incognito window:

+ Watch video

Poisonous Taoist

could this make canvas mainstream? since this is based on webkit, it has full canvas support. with the google name behind it, I can see them implementing advanced features on their web services with canvas (instead of flash).

SamburgerHandwich

@ scrolling up bug, to be fair, this is the FIRST DAY of release, its bound to be slightly buggy now - im sure firefox was ALOT buggier in its first release

bagano

Just installed chrome on an asus eee 700 model. The idea with multiple processes is nice. I hope in the future, the memory usage per tab decreases.

rdn98

I'm missing Adblock Plus tremendously. Oh, and Google Bookmarks integration. Also, I can't scroll up using a touchpad (Synaptic) on my laptop.

bnosach

@kala_way: webkit (what chrome uses to render pages) is generally offers the best compatibility with webpages, so it should be better than firefox

bagano

The comments about speed are making me consider using this. However not having my favorite add ons is a big minus. I'll check it out later.

Good preview Adam.

SA

i cant see google providing ad-blocking, but i can see them lettings someone else make an ad-clocking extension, they obviously make enough money anyway, and it would be more damaging for them not to

bagano

I wish I could try it out....

*looks sadly at mac mini*

ConorB

type:
about:memory
in the address bar to compare memory of the browsers running.

it's called "stats for nerds" and it's also available through chrome task manager dialog box

code3

I like it for the most part. However, I am really surprised (and disappointed) that they didn't integrate a lot of the Google services into Chrome. What about Google Bookmarks? How about a GMail and Google Reader unread count? Stuff like that.

A little more work and I think it could be pretty good. I still can't get use to the blue and white look of GMail after using the Google Redesigned extension in FF.

xious

Lifehacker's favicon isn't showing up in Chrome's bookmarks bar for me, while the other favicons are. I find this kind of sad. :(

Descent

What percent of sites support it? I know there are still a couple of pages I visit that don't like Firefox, is it better or worse in that respect?

kala_way

I'm too used to Firefox. Anything worth having or getting from Chrome will make it to Firefox sooner or later.

crichton007

Hooray!!!!

If you use one regular tab and one incognito tab you can open 2 different accounts in Gmail at once!!

My holy grail has been achieved - SO much better than mixing FF and IE or the various dodgy Greasemonkey scripts and FF extensions for solving that problem!

Hallelujah!!

inbetweener

I have to say that I'm really impressed for a first shot. I found the javascript speed to be a noticeable upgrade from FF.

I wouldn't switch without AdBlock, and I have gotten really addicted to Foxmarks but could possibly live without. I don't really need Firebug anymore since this does ALMOST everything that firebug did.

I love all the little touches... I will be suggesting this to some of my clients who just need basic web browsing as it beats the pants off of IE.

I wish it saved keywords like firefox bookmarks.

Wow... it's really cool though!

sparkweb

about:

Google Chrome
0.2.149.27 (1583)
Official Build
Google Inc.
Copyright © 2006-2008 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.27 Safari/525.13

Hmm. Interesting, so it's the same base code as Safari? That would explain the resizable textarea boxes.

rollog60

Sheesh, I only just installed Prism last week and now it's redundant again... the pace of progress.

Without having the extensibility of FF, unless this gets a lot more functional I don't think it's going to be my primary browser for a little while. Somehow I suspect it won't given the "lean, mean" ethos behind it.

inbetweener

@jtimberman: Google will eventually add an extension API, after which the Adblock developers can port the extension to Chrome if they want. In the interim, you'll have to wait for someone to release a version of Chrome that has the features of Adblock built in.

Popups show up as minimized tabs inside the window which you can either close or open.

NoScript will likely eventually be ported to Chrome, seeing as the only difference between java on FF and java on Chrome is that Chrome runs it faster.

Poisonous Taoist

I *might* check it out at some point, but probably won't use it long term:

* I hear that popups aren't blocked outright, but opened as new minimized windows.
* I doubt Google will have something like Adblock+, which is my #1 most essential extension in Firefox.
* Given the Google bias toward javascript, I think NoScript would make the browser Epic Fail, and that is my #2 most essential extension in Firefox.

I likewise don't use Opera due to lack of Adblock+. Sure, it has "ad blocking" but no where to the level that Adblock+ provides to Firefox users.

The separate process for each tab feature is quite excellent and intriguing. Just this morning I had a complete Firefox fail when a page stalled on loading.

jtimberman

@SamburgerHandwich: i have no idea what canvas is... but i dont think this has all of webkits features.

bagano

There's a lot of nice stuff in terms of features, but I can't help being disappointed over performance. First it was the lack of real improvement over FF3 in the memory category, now I see Shockwave Flash plugin crashes every time I try to play a clip that's more than a few seconds.

Best case scenario in my mind: Google gives FF extension developers a lot of ideas for addons!

polyboy

Anyone had problems on Vista Ultimate 32 bits?
After install I´m getting this:
chrome.exe - Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click OK to terminate the application.

On 2 different computers! :(

diegocogo

Google Apps support would be nice - continue at your own risk is the current warning!

neal whitehouse piper | whiper

I must say, I'm impressed with the speed. And I agree with other posters, it does have a "modern" feel to it. I think this browser (which I'm currently typing this message via) has great potential.

I'm also impressed that Google didn't bloat it with a bunch of other Google related services (like their toolbar).

The deal breaker for me at this point as my main browser is that I can't use my Roboform program that I used on Firefox and years ago on Internet Explorer.

mobilejray

ATTENTION to all:

i just uninstalled Chrome and to my surprise (well maybe not..) found one nasty behaviour of google.

i fired up Autoruns and saw that googleupdate.exe still remains in your startup. so i followed cleanup procedure and headed up to %appdata% dir to find a lot of garbage that wasn't removed and i even used Revo to do it and reported there were no leftovers..

beware if you uninstall it, and clean your system of that junk.

thanks a lot google for doing the same as usual bad companies do.

code3

Won't replace Firefox...
Will replace IE (save the "in case of ActiveX break glass" sign)

klausbert

I need my adblock extension - otherwise Lifehacker is unusable.

The browser overall seems redundant. Firefox does all of this - why does this need to exist?

24fc

I absolutely love the behind the scenes processes going on with Chrome (assuming they implemented everything in their comic).

One thing I did notice from the new tabs page, if you want to install "bookmark addons" I think the phrase was, it re-directs you to Mozilla's Addon database. I guess blending Apple and Mozilla code is going to work out just fine.

ep5760

i'm looking forward to the mac version, hopefully a true mac app with the plugin stuff of firefox and the speed and usability of safari.

things i'm currently missing in chrome would be easy flv downloader (cmd click embedded flash video and it copies it to the download folder) and menus, seriously missing some menus here and there

it's good but needs work

Gonzie

This is to Firefox what GTalk was to Skype. It's nice but Firefox already does internet surfing really well. I like using Chrome and I'm sure it's better than IE-anything but it's not a gotta-have for me yet. Will there be extensions?

Mark

@bagano: canvas is a part of webkit. It was developed by apple for their widgets.

It basically allows you to create flash-like animated vector graphics using javascript and html-like code. It allows the browser to utilize your hardware better than dhtml alone.

Currently it is only used by safari and firefox I think. Take a look at some of the demos online. Impressive stuff, and in a free, open standard.

SamburgerHandwich

Everything > IE
Opera > Firefox
Chrome > Firefox
Firefox + Extensions > Everything

Nothing will be as good as FF unless it has easy-to-create extensions.
And I will not use any browser without Ctrl+Enter shortcut and decent adblocking. FF is the only browser that does adblocking right.

ninjabob7

I just discovered that there doesn't seem to be any RSS feed support.

sparkweb

one more note about the cleanup when uninstalling..

clean your %windir%\tasks because googleupdate is there too.

code3

@ep5760: The "Bookmark addons" bookmark is a default Firefox bookmark that Chrome auto-imported for you. Don't take it as a sign of things to come.

Darklighter

@drjayphd: I don't doubt that that's the way. Even though most of the time Google ads can be inobtrusive they can still be placed annoyingly.

tanya.peacock

Well it was nice playing around with the new kid in town.
Uninstalled and got connected to Google support in IE (?) while FF is the default browser.

Lots of work to do for the Google Chrome guys.
Nice try though.

ez13

So far I like it...it feels so very strange because I'm a FF extension freak and not having extensions I feel like I'm browsing in the nude...not a pretty sight!

Nuclear Moose

I like to overall look and feel of it.

It's pretty enough for my folks to use too.

But for us geeks it's gonna need support from extensions.

@Alicemagic. I think the reason FF and Chrome don't have gestures as default as they're trying to be lean browsers. There's a long list of things everyone wants in as standard, and you can either try and accommodate some like Opera, and dare I say IE try to do. Or you can offer the lean, quick core, with the option of adding your own 'features' using add ons.

Although an add blocker would be nice, is it me or is asking for an ad blocker from a company whose main income is from ads a bit like handing a long distance runner a shotgun with a slipper on the end?

Insert foot here, pull trigger there!?

I'm sure an extension/add on will get released at some point soon though. It is only day one after all!

bucky

ok after some elbow grease cleaning up my system, you must be warned that Chrome is like Norton. after uninstall you'll have a lot of work in order to remove all the traces from the registry because they're all scattered over the system.

i'll not install this browser again soon.

code3

I love it - it's fast, it's clean, it's fun. I haven't switched my default browser from Firefox yet, but I will definitely be using Chrome a lot. I can't wait to see it after it's out of beta...

WhereForArt

Remember this is a BETA.

So far, I like it. It's faster than Safari for page-rendering. I'll continue using it. And it was a pleasure to have almost immediate access to GMail.

I read the comic and I liked the technical flow-charts. Hey, even Mozilla does not do that. So, yes, I have drunk the kool-aid. Does not seem to be poisoned.

radiochief

It loaded GMail for me lightning-fast, and kept doing that. After keeping several tabs open, overall performance seemed to degrade, probably due to my Winboxen's very low memory level and slow pagefile swapping.

MikeWas

Houston, we have a problem! I can't live without Clip to Onenote and GTDInbox...

Do I stay or do I go?

mrthermister

Fast but having strange and regular crashes and weird close-downs; maybe I need to play more but this isn't the FF replacement.
And who needs that anyway?

fatuousplatitudes

@processfive: Thanks for the tip... nice undocumented feature. Here's hoping for a tipsheet or better docs.

Not to mention an about:config screen. :-)

dotyoureyes

There are some nice features in the browser. I really like how much more of the page I can see because the tabs/search bar are minimal. The 'Speed Dial' page is nice, but not original. Everything is very smooth, from scrolling to closing a tab. I like the integration of Firefox-like plugins such as the Inspector, the application creator (Prism thing), the download manager (although it's a tad bit big) and the Google form of the Awesome Bar.

Overall it's not a bad browser. I was very disappointed by the speed issue, though. I was hoping for a faster browser that rivals the speed of Firfox 3.0 but the speed I'm getting from Chrome is anything but. I checked the task manager and it is eating away at my memory right now and I'm not sure why. Whatever the reason, it's extremely slow even to load Lifehacker and more interactive, feature-rich sites such as Facebook suffer.

Understandably it's in beta so not all will be perfect. But, I hope the speed they promised in their little comic book will someday be achieved. For now, I'm holding to Firefox 3.0.

Alikia

@dotyoureyes: Try middle-clicking on links to get the new tabs to open without grabbing focus...

I've installed it on two machines so far. Installation on the first worked perfectly. Weird hang-ups and freezes on the second one, but I went to take a screenshot for a bug report, and it unfroze. :)

So far, same as everyone else. Fast, some cool design things, not too many bugs, no extensions :( , definitely promising, but I'm not ready to switch from FF.

Harlan

@Skeezy "The Multi Processes however seems to add up to be more then Firefox uses "

Multiple processes will always do this, since each process requires its own copy of various resources- It's a key part of the space-speed trade off that we developers have to make so that software can actually get developed. On the plus side, if they implemented it properly, those resources are released when each tab is closed and a certain amount of isolation is afforded to each process- maybe the web won't suck quite so hard when the browsers don't crash all the time...

sfines

I like it. I have found a few quirks with the browser so far, but it is a work in progress. I am going to play with it over the next month or so. =) Neat stuff.

danikar

it doesn't seem to play nice with facebook, from what i've seen. i like this glowing text box thing, though.

trasjr7

@AustinS: I have exactly the same problem on my Win XP Prof.

Sanja

Anyone able to get java working?

zevious

@Vertigo50: exactly my thoughts. i have grown so accustomed to not seeing the big flashing banners that say "WIN WIN WIN!!!" or something similar..

Charging_Mooses

"Google Chrome has added a "porn mode" called Incognito mode"

That, good sir, made me "LOL" out loud.

Labot2001

Yes, I like Google Chrome, but the deal breaker is no Tree Style Tab, no Noscript, and no CS Lite (cookie control). Other than that, this is the browser for the rest of us, the people who ask why the computer can't be easy to use like a toaster.

I spot the functionality of FF3 addons Locationbar2 and Fission, at least.

For those people who need some kind of "ad block" while evaluating Google Chrome, may I recommend the good old proxy favorite, Privoxy, a local open-source program you install on your computer.

piyo

@diegocogo: you wouldn't happen to have Symantec Endpoint Protection installed on those computers, would you?

I had the same exact problem. Apparently SEP and Chrome don't play nice.

See here.

Matt

For those of you saying that all the features are the same as other browsers.. did you read the comic strip they created to announce Chrome? It's what's under the hood that makes it completely different. I'm sure once they come out of beta there will be plenty more features and add-ons. I for one love it. They've definitely done something new and innovative. Yea, some of their features are like other browsers, but there's a lot here that no one has thoug