Google creates new browser

[snowhiker]

Google creates new open source browser.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080901-google-opens-up-new-front-in-browser-wars-with-chrome.html

[timwhit]

You can download it now: http://www.google.com/chrome

It really doesn't seem faster than Firefox 3. There is no option to open a new tab when I type something in the address bar either, which bugs me to no end.

I realize it's a beta, but I hope they fix these problems. I have no need for another browser that is not configurable. Plus, I think it's main selling point is being extremely quick, which it really doesn't seem to be.

[timwhit]

After playing around with it for a few more minutes it seems that the rendering is very quick. Spawning a bunch of tabs might be a little bit slower then Firefox, but I would guess that this is because it has to spawn a new process for every new domain you open.

I'm running this on my work machine, which is a P4 3.2 GHz. I will be interested to see how it performs on my quad core system at home. It should perform a lot better since the system should automatically assign processes across the cores. Whereas Firefox's multi-processor support is very bad.

[Handruin]

It feels very snappy to me, almost faster than FF3. I'm running it right now on a quad core at work and so far I like it. I'm not sold just yet to switch over, but I like what I see so far. It's interesting that each tab is a separate windows process.

[udaman]

LOL, you all know this is built on Apple's engine, open source SDK called Webkit, being used for Sarfari? Therefore, all of you should hate it :D. then again, initially it's only available for Windoze, so you should all embrace it...even if it's 'Safari' like ;).

Nice analysis on Apple Insider, be sure to read that in addition to the ars article:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/01/google_planning_new_chrome_browser_based_on_webkit .html


Or you could try Safari 4 when it comes out, Google's has many of the same features that will go into Safari 4 (or at least they're being developed for inclusing in Safari 4, at present) :D

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/08/23/apple_developers_get_new_builds_of_safari_4_mac_os _x_10_5_5.html

not sure what 'canvas pixel manipulation' refers to (part of S4)???

[timwhit]

Apple didn't develop WebKit. They used the base code of Konqueror.

I've used Safari on Windows and it's an abysmal experience. I've used it on OS X 10.5 and it's pretty bad there as well.