For those not in the know, Google recently released a Beta of their brand new web browser (Google Chrome) which is aimed at knocking Firefox and Internet Explorer from their almighty pedestals.
The release day was one that saw the Internet awash with bloggers and forum-addicts glued to their threads and websites eager to see what the fuss was about. Many people discovered small ‘Easter eggs’ embedded in Google Chrome, such as the messages that are visible when typing ‘about:internets’ and ‘about:crash’ in the address bar. Many of the people I spoke to were amazed at how speedy Google Chrome actually was, from installing the software to browsing the web and loading various applets.
However, certain issues arose. Such as a rather small, but rather important paragraph in Google Chrome’s EULA which explained that Google is pretty much playing Big Brother in everything that goes on inside your web browser.
“Today’s Internet outrage du jour has been Chrome’s EULA, which appears to give Google a nonexclusive right to display and distribute every bit of content transmitted through the browser. Now, Google tells Ars that it’s a mistake, the EULA will be corrected, and the correction will be retroactive.” - Ars Technica.
Fortunately, Google were able to clean up the mess before the fire spread too quickly and the EULA has become retroactive and the chunk of text has been removed from the EULA altogether. It’s actually quite technical.
I can’t criticise Google Chrome too much though, after all, it is still in it’s BETA stage. Although there are a few points that annoy me, such as the inability to cycle back to my homepage. Unlike every single other browser in existance, Google have failed to add a ‘home’ button to Chrome. I’m also unable to press my mouse’s scroll-wheel down for easy-scrolling. Closing my browser does not leave me with a prompt, even with several tabs open. Not to mention the problems with the rendering of PNG files.
Excusing these minor errors, Google Chrome is a fantastic web browser with a lot of pros. For instance, the speed is unreal, the browser does not dominate the screen like some browsers and it’s sleek even in it’s first stages.
Though will it be enough to knock Firefox out of the browser ring? I’m not convinced.
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