Google Chrome Gets Out of Beta

A new web browser for Windows get out of beta in 100 days

Sunday, December 14, 2008 by Himangshu | Discussion: Personal Computing

In a somewhat unusual move, the Google team decided today to shift its Internet browser, Chrome, out of beta stage, just a hundred days after its debut and shortly after the latest updates of competing browsers such as Opera Browser and Mozilla Firefox.

Google, which has sometimes been criticized for its tendency to leave many of its products in beta stage even when they are already stable and highly reliable, hopes the announcement will help the lightweight browser gain some market share, currently around the 1 percent mark.

To download visit: http://www.google.com/chrome/

Read more at: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/

First Previous Page 1 of 3 Next Last
Himangshu
Reply #1 Sunday, December 14, 2008 12:24 PM
Have you used it? I'm using it. It's freaking fast, did someone say speed of light is ultimate? At the same time I've noticed that some scripts are not working with it. For example, we can't post any comment in this Wincustomize forum using Chrome.
CobraA1
Reply #2 Sunday, December 14, 2008 12:42 PM

Out of beta already? That's pretty fast for Google. Usually the "beta" tag is permanent for their products.

At the same time I've noticed that some scripts are not working with it.

Yeah, they use a custom JavaScript engine called "V8" that is supposed to be lightning fast. But it's not something that has had a lot of testing on a large scale, so I wouldn't be surprised if it had a lot of bugs.

My biggest question is: Have they improved the security of their browser? There are a lot of privacy and security tweaks that are available in most browsers that the first verison of Chrome didn't have.

RickJP
Reply #3 Sunday, December 14, 2008 1:01 PM

DL it and it is fast and can comment ok on here.

Tkins
Reply #4 Sunday, December 14, 2008 1:01 PM

I just updated. Way faster! Videos also play with more stability and speed as well. Feels pretty good.

Himangshu
Reply #5 Sunday, December 14, 2008 1:19 PM
My biggest question is: Have they improved the security of their browser?

I don't find too many options regarding security. What I really like is its speed.

did someone say speed of light is ultimate?
CobraA1
Reply #6 Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:00 PM

I don't find too many options regarding security. What I really like is its speed.

Yeah, that's a bit of a problem - Chrome was a bit of a mixed bag for security. They got the architecture right, but the UI for handling security needed work.

Good to hear it's fast, though. That, plus I liked the way you could detach and reattach tabs.

k10w3
Reply #7 Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:18 PM

I had it for a while when it was in beta.  It wasn't any faster than Opera (my current browser), and when it came to skinning...Chrome was undependable.  That current blue folder look is ugly.  I played around with some of the skinning options for Chrome, but they would crash, and anytime there were new skins available, I had to uninstall Chrome and reinstall in order to make the new skin function.  Too much of a hassle.  Opera takes whatever Windowblind I happen to be using at the time with no problems.

Of course, I still have to have IE for work applications and for the occasional website that requires it, but for all my "fun time" on the net, I use Opera.

Bodyless
Reply #8 Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:19 PM

Does it spy at you like their search mashine does?

Philocthetes
Reply #9 Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:34 PM

Bodyless
Does it spy at you like their search mashine does?

They've got more than their search engine at work on your dossier. The Google Analytics stuff is just creepy, and getting darned near as ubiquitous as doubleclick.net tracking cookies. We really need a Digital Millenium User Rights Act that makes privacy the default and requires explicit, well-informed opt-in when organizations want to store user info and track their behavior. We mostly have to opt-out now, and that doesn't always work as well as you might hope.

BluesBrother
Reply #10 Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:59 PM

sad to say i dropped it. when i saw that the browser didnt have a cool tool bar only tabs..i was immediately turned off by it. back to FF and opera!.. perhaps within a year or two, ill return to chrome, not until then

messiah1
Reply #11 Sunday, December 14, 2008 4:24 PM

Whoopeee!  Can I be the first in line not to use it?  Pretty please?

storm347
Reply #12 Sunday, December 14, 2008 7:10 PM

Whoopeee! Can I be the first in line not to use it? Pretty please?

 

i don't see why not . i tried it ,it kept losing all my bookmarks and i couldn't use  the forums at wc at all  back to ff for now

vStyler
Reply #13 Sunday, December 14, 2008 8:02 PM

Meh

DethAdder
Reply #14 Sunday, December 14, 2008 8:17 PM

Can I be the first in line not to use it?

You might not be the first. From the first time I saw a browser created by the biggest online advertising company I was suspicious and have stayed well away from it

Himangshu
Reply #15 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:26 AM
i couldn't use the forums at wc at all
That's very much true.

Moreover I can't customize it as I want.

Necessary security settings that I need to change specially about cookies and scripts are not available.

The only good feature is its speed.

But, is this speed due to compromise the security? That means as security checks are not there, it can browse at a higher speed. I'm not sure, but just suspecting that it's very much possible. What you say?
CobraA1
Reply #16 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 8:56 AM

The Google Analytics stuff is just creepy, and getting darned near as ubiquitous as doubleclick.net tracking cookies.

I've got mixed feelings on this. As somebody who does a bit of web development, it is nice to see how many visitors you're getting, what browsers they're using so you know what to design for, etc.

 

But, is this speed due to compromise the security?

Not necessarily. Right now, Chrome is the only browser that compiles JavaScript, although I think Firefox has plans to compile JavaScript in the next major version.

Keep in mind, JavaScript is not Java. Java already uses a JIT compiler, but JavaScript never has.

Himangshu
Reply #17 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 9:50 AM
Chrome is the only browser that compiles JavaScript
I think you wanted to mean - for Chrome, Google developed their own virtual machine.

But, the most amazing news that I found about it is that it is Open Source. Is it true? I can't believe it.
TheBigOne
Reply #18 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 10:47 AM

yah it is open source and for earlier versions there had already been some spinoffs which removed all the "spying" stuff (and hopefully didn't add new one hehe)

LOLCHRIST
Reply #19 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:26 AM

I like it, and have been using it since it came out. It really needs an advert blocking tool though, Vibrant Media Intellitxt is driving my mad - that's the one that double underlines a load of words and pops up a video if your mouse happens to go near one of them.

I did find out that you can kill flash from Chrome's task manager (shift + esc), which is help with some adverts.

Himangshu
Reply #20 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 11:49 AM

Everything is all right. But, unfortunately there is no version of Chrome for Linux. An open source browser, but not for Linux – that’s quite surprising.

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