Jason Porritt

I had to do it. I installed Google’s new browser, Chrome.

My initial search for the download page was performed in IE8 Beta2’s Live Search bar (take that, Microsoft!) and I didn’t get the results I expected — surprise! Instead of a prominent download link, I was presented with several news stories and a link to Google’s little comic commentary about Chrome (which is a good read, by the way). So, I just went directly to Google and searched there, and of course they had the download link in the Sponsored Links sidebar as well as the first position below news results. I tried the search for “google chrome” also at Yahoo and AltaVista, just for kicks, and noted that the download link was near the middle of the first page of results. Odd, then, that it doesn’t appear in Microsoft’s Live Search results at all, don’t you think?

Anyway, I installed it and poked around the web a bit, paying special attention to sites like GMail and agentzh’s blog that are heavy on the Javascript. Overall, it worked well enough. I didn’t notice any drastic difference between my typical Safari 3.1 and Chrome, though it was quite snappy in GMail. Nice job, Google.

Of course, we all realize that in the end Google’s release of Chrome is a self-serving action. Better browser performance means they can push their apps harder, and improved perception of security and stability might make people more apt to use online spreadsheet and word processing tools. I applaud their efforts just the same, and I think we all hope this pushes Microsoft and Mozilla toward further innovation.