Google released Chrome today and you will see “Google Chrome is a browser” if you visit the Chrome web page. Do not be deceived, though. Chrome is not designed to replace Internet Explorer or Firefox or Safari. Chrome is designed to replace your operating system and virtually all of the software that you use every day. Chrome is the key to letting you do all of your computer stuff on the web instead of on one computer.
Think of the advantages. If you edit your grocery list on your home computer and want to print it at work, you are stuck. You cannot print that grocery list until you get home again. But if you edit your grocery list on the web, you can get to the same document and print it from any computer anywhere in the world. Similarly, if your hard disk dies, you can still get to your stuff if it is on the web. All you have to do is switch to another computer and keep on working. I could wax rhapsodic about the possibilities for way more paragraphs than you want to read but I’ll spare you.
Google wants to make this transition so easy for you that you will wonder why you did not make the switch yesterday. Chrome will take over your whole computer and hide all of the confusing gunk of Windows or OSX or Linux so you do not have to worry about it any more. You will be able to simply do your work or read your email or stare at your videos or whatever strikes your fancy. And if you are on a Mac today and on a PC tomorrow, it will not matter one bit because everything will look exactly the same.
Does this seem a bit far fetched? Take a look at how your computer appears if you use Internet Explorer to read the news. (Click on the picture to see it larger.)
That looks pretty normal. You can see that you are running IE because there is lots of IE stuff on the top and bottom of the screen and the news is in the middle. Now here is the same web page in Firefox.
That is pretty much the same experience. You can see that you are running Firefox instead of IE because the stuff at the top and bottom is different but the browser stuff is still there and the news is in the middle.
Now look at the same page in Google Chrome:
Now that looks different. Where did the browser go? It vanished in much the same way that your operating system vanishes into the background. As you are reading the article, are you really aware of whether you are using Linux or Windows or OSX? Of course not. But you see Firefox or IE or Safari all the time because it intrudes on your life so boldly.
Chrome is not a web browser. It is the platform on which your application software runs. Reuters picked this up when it reported,
Google co-founder Sergey Brin said Chrome was designed to address the shift to using software from within a Web browser rather than as locally installed computer applications running inside Microsoft Windows or some other operating system.
“I think operating systems are kind of an old way to think of the world,” Brin told a group of reporters after the news conference at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters.
in Google sees new browser displacing desktop software.
Does this sound familiar? Pick your poison:
- Microsoft Windows + Microsoft Outlook + Microsoft Exchange + Microsoft Office
- Google Chrome + Google GMail + Google Calendar + Google Docs
Is this good or bad? That is the $64 question, of course. Google’s web-based applications carry no license fees and ought to be highly reliable. But they come with advertisements and the implicit agreement that you trust Google to manage your data properly. Naturally, Chrome will also run other applications, just like Microsoft Windows runs applications which were not written by Microsoft. But by providing one platform which runs identically across all computers, and which is written and maintained by the same Google which provides all of those whiz-bang applications, you can bet that Google is assuring a first-class user experience if you settle comfortably into the Google environment whole heartedly.
Which do you want on your computer? Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX or Linux… or Google Chrome?
Google Chrome is FAST.. my favorite part. Thought you might be interested in the community sprouting up at http://ChromeSpot.com – lots of good information to be had there!
At first blush, I really do like Google Chrome…
Having said that, I deeply distrust any company or service that wants to control my data, and by allowing these online applications to save my files out there on a web server somewhere that is exactly what I am doing.
Windows, Mac or Linux (my preference), my data is mine, and I prefer to keep it that way. With the readily available, cheap flash drives now a days, there is no reason that you cannot just drop your grocery list quite literally in your pocket as you head out the door.
Cheers, Marc
Marc,
Your distrust is well-founded. As reported this morning in Slashdot, using Google Chrome gives Google perpetual rights to all of your files which you product “out there on a web server somewhere.”
— Art Z.
despite the rumors, i’m finding Chrome to actually be slower than Firefox… it hangs constantly
You seem to be a bit confused about what operating systems do. Yes, Google is out to replace many/most of your *applications*, but your OS is responsible for making your hardware work and, for that matter, getting Chrome to launch in the first place. Google isn’t in the OS business, at least not yet. Although I can see Chrome’s utility with a very lightweight OS on a device that basically serves as a net connection, let’s not confuse our terminology or our perspective.
seems to me that your idea of what users need from their applications is a tad narrow. I don’t see myself making press ready (1-2gb files) in any browser anytime soon or touching up hires scans or pics or makng music or editing video or even doing some dev work … I think it is gonna be a long time before desktop apps become obsolete … As far as graphics go css does a rather poor job at rendering what’s should be possible on dtp or vectr software. Web apps are ok for “domestic” use and even then most desktop apps these days feature some network (syncing, versioning, collaboration) functions … Perhaps more interesting hybrid solutions seem like a better option for the future where users get to have more control over where their data goes. In fact besides email I’m slowly giving up most web apps I used to use often (like del.icio.us) because they annoy the hell out of me, and email might go back to the desktop soon … Online storage of data I might need frequently? Sure. More limiting homogenous one size fits all browser driven GUIs? No thanks
Sebastian and gerta,
We are both right. Operating systems are much more than Chrome and people do much more with computers than the things which can be done with web-based applications. But for a lot of people, the operating system is nothing more than the thing you have to get through before you can read your email. In this context, Chrome running in full-screen mode looks amazingly like an operating system with a built-in window manager.
— Art Z.
There isn’t any big conspiracy here. Google spends close to $65 Million a year to license the top position in the Firefox search window. Google can build their own browser for a fraction of that cost. They simply don’t want to have to pay that fee anymore. That’s why they’re making this browser, to save money and allow for them to control more of the time you spend with them each day.
Smart business move.
Sebastian,
Please take a look at the Aviary Suite (a.viary.com). I know these apps are still far from what Adobe can accomplish, yet they are still and interesting look into the future and what web-based apps are capable of.
Nevertheless. you are right about Chrome and it’s inability to replace any of the major 3 OS’s as it is. However, I do believe that at some point Google will develop this into much more than just a browser.
-Kyle
It looks simple but deep down there is a great way how they managed the sandboxing and process stuff.
But without any extensions its just an empty frame, a frame which looks good behaves good is stable and better than anything I know.
But its empty. Extensions will come then we will see if it really can replace Firefox.
As long as there is no stumble toolbar every browser is useless for me.
Big failure was not to wait until it’s available to all OS. There was no need to go public this early. Nobody expected this so why not wait?
Soon there will be extensions, we will see if they can make chrome to a true Firefox alternative.
whatever, thank you Google for making this open source this decision is what makes the difference between you and the rest out there.
You say you just want to make the internet better because this is the place where you live, and I truly believe you. Please keep being “not evil”
well, google chrome is not that good, it has some features of opera, so it is not that original. The saving of websites in new tabs is just a hoax. We want a clean page when we opena broswer, and not a scramble of thumbnails staring at our face. google crome bye bye
“We want a clean page when we opena broswer, and not a scramble of thumbnails staring at our face.”
No, I actually really like that it loads my top pages in new tabs, since most of them are probably what i’d be putting in the new tab anyway. Also, is it just me or does chrome avoid putting those “risque” websites in your new tab list? Not saying thats a bad thing, I just think it’d be a clever feature of google’s.