Feanor

I waited till now before I tried Chrome but now that it is already in the version 4 beta state I decided to give it a good look. Here are my impressions:
1. Compared to Firefox or Opera its interface is over-simplified. It looks like the browser for your kids. Once you get used it is ok, I mean, all the browsers more or less are the same and do the same things so you can't really change the interface that much.
2. "Advanced" options are almost non-existent. This is good for many people probably but I guess "power users" feel a little naked.
3. It is NOT faster than Firefox and Opera on the site I visit every day. The multiple threads probably are good when it comes to heavy AJAX applications but for casual browsing it is just a waste of resources. Opening several "heavy" pages with Chrome put my old computer on its knees.
4. There are some strange things about Chrome, for example it installs completely in your user account directory instead of "program files" like all the other software and it puts there also the whole installer (about 30M of useless "zipped" stuff). It uses a scheduled procedure for updating (see in "windows/task"). And some other strange/uncommon stuff.
5. The worst thing about Chrome is the extensions. First you must use the "beta" version to have extensions supported, then when you install and try some extensions you clearly see extensions in Chrome are a JOKE compared to Firefox. Maybe they can compare with Opera's widgets. For example, there are 3 or 4 extensions to block ads, besides the fact that you can't interact with those extensions (see no way to create your own filter rules) most of these extensions say they "block" ads but instead the ads are first loaded by Chrome and then hidden. You can even see the ads appearing in the page and then disappearing. Lame.

So, now I have mixes feelings about Chrome. I don't need it because it would be my last choice after all the other browsers I know and right before the infamous IE. My first impression is Chrome was not designed to compete with the other browsers about features but only to be some tool-container for Google's Web applications and then for staying out of the user's way as much as possible. I come from the "old school" and then I am still "browser-centric".

Martina shares her biscuit - 15 months old