A Blog With No Name

It's good to be back in the game

Chrome is running

Friday, September 12, 2008 3:40:57 PM

,

As you probably heard, Google is creating a new browser. Sound like an interesting idea. The beta is out, although only for Windows for now (download). They say (on the site) that you can build the code under linux and mac os x, but it won't run sad Well they promise it will soon. On the other hand, I was directed to a link (down in the comments), which explains how to run it under Linux with Wine

I finally got some time, so I went on to download it. The installation instruction that I got on the "Thank You" page was kinda weird. Take a look at the text and note that I am using Opera as always, and it shows explanations for Firefox, and Firefox alone.


1. Click OK or Save File in the window that appears.
Don't see a window? Click here.

2. Select Downloads from the Tools menu in Firefox.
A window displaying your downloads will appear.

3. Click Open next to the product in the Downloads window.
Your software will now install automatically. If you need help, click here.



Anyway then the installer downloaded some more stuff and it was set to go.
As they say it is very minimalistic and very sleak. There are some nice effects, but I think they are about right - not too flashy. The browser seems to work pretty fast, loads and displays nice. There are a lot of Opera-like features.
In the first tests I have run, I only noticed that it seems to be missing java support. But it is a beta after all.

All things Google (that I tested) work fine as expected. Calendar, docs, mail...
Facebook seems to work nice. I tested it not becuase I like it very much, but because in Opera it is a bit too slugish for me. (I actually don't like facebook at all, and use it just for contacts. Still it's better than MySpace.)

My brother suggested loading ign.com, because it a very slow site. Interestingly enough it loads faster in Opera than in Chrome. But then again, it really is somekind of a weird site.

And it comes with a built in site inspector of some kind. You can see page elements and their properties nicely, when you hover over the elements in code, they are marked with different color in page, similar to dragonfly/firebug.

Overal, a nice beta.
But I can't stop trying to do mouse gestures in broswers. Sometimes I try it in other applications too, and can't figure out why it ain't working.

Ze September 11Poverty

Comments

Angelikiellinidata Friday, September 12, 2008 6:36:22 PM

hi Donny,
I am so ignorant on this however my dear friend John in Granada is into it big time! If you don;t mind I will give him a link to visit you,
as for me I just stopped by to say "hello"
thank you for being a loyal reader of mine smile

heart

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Friday, September 12, 2008 7:21:41 PM

Hi Don, on behalf of my beloved Angeliki here my response to your Google browser escapade. http://www.myscienceisbetter.info/ interesting I think.
Tmho it is too early to run the Google Beta on Linux. Which Linux in particular. I use Ubuntu-Hardy as base under MINT/Alyssa. My 'world' says straight forward: wait to see. Since I have a production-system where I test software, I refuse to take chances with software still to be compiled. Yet, I could give WINE a try. Why do you use the Google browser in the first place?

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Friday, September 12, 2008 9:07:33 PM

DON, did you notice that the Google Installer exe generates a "no is a valid Win32" error? I can't bring the thing to running in Vista...

DonnyQuinnuendo Friday, September 12, 2008 9:19:06 PM

Thanks for the link, I will add it to the post, just in case. I know I have at least one friend who would like to test Chrome on Linux right now smile (will explain more)

You are of course right, it is early for Chrome on Linux, probably on windows too.
And I definitely agree that on a production system you shouldn't play much with untested software. I for instance like to test various versions of web applications on my home server, yet I would not install them easily on the web server.

Why do I use it? Well, for one I am what the like to call a geek smile That is almost enough, the pure curiosity of seeing what will Google offer, how different could it be, what new stuff can I see. Google tends to do good stuff. And they are big rivals with Microsoft on several fields, so this could be a strong hit to Internet Explorer.
On the other hand I am a bit of a web developer. It is not my job, but I have done it a few times, and I like to code pages for my needs. As you probably know, most people who deal with strong web pages that should be viewable in multiple browsers tend to dislike IE.

I haven't seen this error, but I have tried it in XP, not Vista. They say it should work, but then again it is a beta :|
I run a dual Kubuntu/XP system.

Angelikiellinidata Friday, September 12, 2008 9:57:02 PM

I have a positive feeling that you two will keep in touch smile

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Friday, September 12, 2008 10:04:00 PM

Haha, I see. Good to hear. Good to be e-friends. I am a 'geek' also, but like you no fool who MUST run all 'premieres', all beta-10's etc. I agree that Google might become an IE competitor of sorts, were it not that I believe M$ (loosing so much terrain these days for OpenSource,Linux) has locked in so many people that this group can hardly change. That is what I hear from many people reacting to my blog posts. My wife runs XP on hers, whereas I use Vista Buzz and Linux Mint Alyssa, so we are nearly at the same wavelength. I must keep Vista for using KX(sound project) supporting my Band in a Box hobby (some of my sounds on my blog in the MP3 articles). Web design has my interest, particularly the difficult situation about Flash. I like Flash but it has its problems. I am looking for a solution to put a simple videoplayer into the Opera blogs. Music goes, but video refuses to pick up the .flv's. Strange, I have tried virtually all options and players around. Tomorrow I'll scan your blog for your music. It's late and I am tired, so go to bed now. Thanks for your info and see you later! John up

DonnyQuinnuendo Friday, September 12, 2008 10:25:17 PM

The IE group is big, and it is not easy to change that is a sure thing. We will live with the problems of IE7 and even IE6 for a while. But it is changing slowly, the presure from Firefox and other projects is getting stronger. Chrome will probably help.
I have heard some good stuff about the future of IE, there are talks that the people writting it are trying to make things better and more into standards, but they have a big responsibility in keeping everything compatible with the old versions. They have a huge client group and can not break the ties with the past easily. We'll see. We can definitely hope.

On the other hand I see Chrome as a posible strong platform for Google apps. A browser they can guarantee will work with everything they have, as it should and very fast. They already have apps that can replace most stuff in a regular office. They could then create the advanced versions for their browser, and regular ones that will work in everything else. If the advanced works in others fine, if not then there is the regular one. Of course this is just a theory wink

Don't know too much about flash, except that it can be messy smile
There aren't much music posts, though I was planing a few. They are however nicely tagged smile

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Saturday, September 13, 2008 8:00:51 PM

Did you notice the sound quality of Flash(ed) music on my blog? At 64k by 22.1 khz - it is astonishing I must admit! I have for Windows some nice, simple and quick tools. Drop me a line if you would try those. I mentionned them on my blog already. Easy to build in on your blog here with just a few lines of code. You're welcome if interested.

DonnyQuinnuendo Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:13:46 PM

Thanx for the info, I will let you know when I need the tools. It is always good to know where to find good options to do something smile

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Sunday, September 14, 2008 9:56:51 PM

You're welcome. nepmak2000 at gmail will do for more privacy.

TabTabmartel Thursday, October 2, 2008 8:44:49 PM

Google is also known for spyware in their toolbar..I'm assuming that Chrome comes with the toolbar built in. Did you scan for spyware?
I'd be curious to know if you found any spyware in the beta.

DonnyQuinnuendo Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:00:09 PM

Hm. Intersting point. I generaly avoid all kinds of toolbars since they can cause problems. Chrome's address bar is similar to that of the new Opera (950) you search through previous pages, bookmarks etc. There is a checkbox in the options to allow anonymous statistical data to be sent to Google.

And now that I think of it, Chrome is open source and you can build it yourself, so I doubt there are hidden stuff. (http://code.google.com/chromium/)

I'll probably do a scan tomorrow just to see what happens smile Didn't scan for a while anyway.

TabTabmartel Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:11:00 PM

Good idea, since the toolbar tracks everything you do in the background and sends it back to google. This helps google rank specific websites you've visited, and keep track of your searches. Basically all of your online activity is sent back to google.

I won't install Chrome anytime soon.. I'm kinda stuck on Opera anyway, even though I do find it lagging every now and then.

DonnyQuinnuendo Thursday, October 2, 2008 9:51:00 PM

I am also very much into Opera, and doubt that I will change my primary browser soon. But as I said earlier, I like to see new web techs, and from a web developer point of view, new browsers and render systems are interesting.

I currently use Chrome for some pages that have problems in Opera. I previously used Firefox for that, but Chrome starts up much faster, which is very important when I just want to check something, then shut it down again.

TabTabmartel Thursday, October 2, 2008 10:13:24 PM

I agree. You're right- from a web developer point of view it would be interesting.

Firefox...I haven't used it in ages..I quit using it about a year ago, because it had too many security problems then. (and paches coming out with trojens in them)..

I'm always interested in new browsers, but leery to install anything new. I ussually wait to hear about the bugs, before I have to deal with em...lol

Dr. John v. Kampennepmak2000 Friday, October 3, 2008 7:32:54 AM

I agree on Opera and on FireFox comments. I use FireFox particularly for its capability to penetrate certain 'dark' websites which other browsers ignore. Since we have 3 or even more "Internet"'s I prefer for professional reasons to get access to what's around and not 'scratch at the surface' as everybody appears to like most. Opera has security advances, but under Ubuntu crawls its way even for our blog posts. Fact is the FireFox tends to crash far more than any other browser on my Linux box particularly when addressing 'streaming' video sources. Opera had huge problems with Flash, but handles streams better.

DeniseDBabbit Sunday, October 12, 2008 8:48:04 AM

Hi Donny,

I am so attached to the Opera Browser, but I'll probably give Chrome a shot just out of curiosity once the bugs are worked out. I quit using Firefox when version 3 crashed my computer, and I have to use IE yuck for some of my classes. Opera loads too slow sometimes, but I like the look, the side panels, the few widgets I use - all in all, I just don't think it can be beat.

DonnyQuinnuendo Sunday, October 12, 2008 9:15:46 AM

Yeah I also doubt it can be beaten. But as said I like to test. And also I like to know what alternatives to IE to recommend to people who just want a simple browser, and who find Opera too complex. And then there are pages that are not fully Opera compatible, so for beginners it's probably better to just start off with Firefox, or maybe Chrome if it lifts off right.

IE is plain horrible.

DeniseDBabbit Sunday, October 12, 2008 9:27:02 AM

I am teaching my mother how to use Opera. She's stuck with Vista on her laptop, and I just don't like it, so I uploaded FF before they went to Ver. 3, but I won't update it, so I downloaded Opera for her. She's a little intimidated because she doesn't get online that much, but she likes being able to see everything in the panels, and the widgets. If Chrome works better for her, I may swap it with FF, but she seems to be catching on S-L-O-W-L-Y. lol

Matthewnoah counte Sunday, October 19, 2008 3:11:10 PM

I'm not using it because of the little tracking metrics. It sounds cool, though - and I use google search all the time. I don't know what my hang up is. lol

DeniseDBabbit Monday, October 20, 2008 4:18:55 AM

The only thing it'll track for her is patterns for sewing projects and recipes. lol I use Google for searching too. If OPERA had a search engine, we'd be set - or do they, and I not know about it? confused

DonnyQuinnuendo Monday, October 20, 2008 9:30:39 AM

No Opera doesn't have a search engine of their own. You can see it on Opera Mini, since they use for default either Yahoo or Google (depends on the version), and here at My Opera (top of the page - says "powered by Google").
The web search business is tough and it would require quite some work. New engines mostly appear for specialized purposes. Microsoft if fighting hard to keep their engine competitive with Google and Yahoo. That is why they were trying to buy Yahoo.

DeniseDBabbit Tuesday, October 21, 2008 1:38:25 AM

I don't use Microsoft's search engine, and very rarely use Yahoo. I did have a link to a site that listed quite a few search engines, but my main computer is down, and I don't have it on this one! rolleyes Google is pretty reliable. The only thing I don't like about them is that once they have your address, it's listed online. I removed mine months ago, but there are still instances where I've found it.

Matthewnoah counte Tuesday, October 21, 2008 2:37:00 AM

I had an interesting search engine for you to try. I learned about it on My.Opera, and then never used it. Now I can't find it. *sigh*

I'll bet Donny was in the conversation, though. It presented search results as "pages" that you could flip through. Nifty.

DeniseDBabbit Tuesday, October 21, 2008 3:14:08 AM

I found Beaucoup! but it isn't the one I'd found before.

DonnyQuinnuendo Tuesday, October 21, 2008 9:36:28 AM

not sure if I was in that conversation, but we learned about some weird data mine search engines...
vivisimo presents things in clusters, automatically, but it moved to
http://clusty.com/

and on the other hand there is a full visual experience of
http://kartoo.com/

There are other weird experimental stuff. But when it comes to normal search Google is quite powerful. On the other hand Google also works non stop to create new types of searches, so it is hard to compete.
I personally never really liked Yahoo. Too cluttered.

Beaucoup seems nice on first glance.

Matthewnoah counte Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:35:21 AM

I've used Clusty every day for years. It's fabulous for exploration of a topic.

Kartoo is neat, but not what I was thinking of. This is goign to drive me nuts. lol

DeniseDBabbit Wednesday, October 22, 2008 8:12:46 AM

Donny! OMG - Thank you for listing kartoo! I found the information I have been searching for for months! Even Google didn't find what I needed! Thank you!! up

DonnyQuinnuendo Wednesday, October 22, 2008 2:49:45 PM

Glad I could help bigsmile Even if it was accidental wink

Matthewnoah counte Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:01:55 PM

Another satisfied customer. party

Matthewnoah counte Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:20:13 PM

Viewzi has a view that is close, but not what I was thinking of. Viewzi actually lets you look at your results in many different ways. Just do a search, and then click one of the views in the bar across the top. Interesting!

DeniseDBabbit Thursday, October 23, 2008 10:30:50 PM

Ixquick is a private search engine. I like using that one. There's mooter, and SurfWax look pretty interesting - Mark summary in that one and you get some interesting sidebar information if you click the magnifying glass on the left side of the text.

Matthewnoah counte Friday, October 24, 2008 2:15:45 AM

Surfwax has a nautilus as a logo. That's a good start. Looks interesting beyond that, too. I'll have ot look at the other ones as well. Thanks, Donny!

Write a comment

New comments have been disabled for this post.