Monday, September 08, 2008

Google Chrome - Review

Google Chrome – New Web Browser launched by GOOGLE


Other than Apple there is another Company that I admire and love a lot. Yes, its Google. Ever since I have started using Google for web searches since the year 1998/99 I have always been fascinated by their products. I have been tracking the company progress very closely and have learnt a lot from them over the last decade.

In my other posts I will try to elaborate what I like about their search engine and some of my original thoughts of improving it as well J

But this one is specifically about their new product called Google Chrome. It is a web browser akin to Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari et al. It’s only natural for Google to have entered the space of building Web Browser. With this they have again challenged its arch rival Microsoft heads on by competing against Internet Explorer and expanding their dominance in Web Based space.

If you were to track the trends, it’s quite obvious that the computing world is moving more and more towards web and web based applications and services. Microsoft who operates primarily in desktop and serve r space is being pushed behind by Google who operates mainly in the web space. Google who already dominates the search engine space is not looking to strengthen their position and hence the launch of Google Chrome browser.

To start with Google Chrome is an open source project which means the source code is available for free and others can now build upon it. I won’t go into details about the technical features of Chrome but would just highlight some of the striking features and why I find this product interesting and think it has a great future.

·         As always Google has come up with the most simplistic design. The way they put it is “On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff - the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.” Read more…

  • All the unnecessary tool bars for window bar, buttons, status etc are gone. What you have is simple, big window to display the content.
  • The status bar is gone and replaced by overlay bar that comes up when needed.
  • Most of the buttons that are rarely used go into dropdown side bar.
  • Feature to save application shortcuts on your desktop that directly launches your application on the web.
  • Every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down. Remember how entire Internet Explorer crashes when any window crashes.
  • No intrusive download manager; you see your download's status at the bottom of your current window.

Of course you can read through the entire feature list from this link. The technical details are also presented in a very innovative format - comics strip by Google. Check it here. However the point is Google Chrome is as simple as it gets. Something which the Google and Apple have pioneered through their designs. Something that other companies including Microsoft are far behind.

Of course people / critics will continue to find fault with the browser and try to promote other products. But its logical and simple common sense – why couldn’t anyone else think of getting rid of the unnecessary, rarely used layers of toolbars and instead give the users more space to browse and view the content when the name itself suggests Web Browser? Well isn’t it a simple thing to accept… at least I think so. Good ideas and good products rarely fail… and that’s why Google Chrome is here to stay and grow. 

5 comments:

iron_maiden said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
iron_maiden said...

Hi Sandy,

Your artcles are so detailed and on a variety of different subjects and are highly informative. Your writing explicitly spells your techno-savvy nature!
Keep up the good work!

Regards,
Ketaki

iron_maiden said...

Hi sandy!

One question why wqas ur blog in hibernation mode in the yr 2007........or were u occupied with something better.........

Ketaki

Anonymous said...

nice article!

Sandy said...

hey thanks buddy! wassup? long time? still in swiss?