New browser in town.
The big news today is Google's browser, called Chrome, is available as a free download. Given Google's success in other areas, this should make browser engineers at Microsoft (Internet Explorer) and Mozilla (Firefox) more than a little uneasy. The competition has gotten a lot tougher.
All afternoon long my Twitter buddies have been saying (mostly) good things about Chrome. I'd love to be able to report on how it works, but as of today it's not available for the Mac. I could fire up Parallels Desktop on my Mac and run the browser in Windows XP, and tomorrow I'll give that a try. Or maybe not. Clicking the Download link on the Google site just takes me to a page that asks me to sign up for "news about development for Mac." Grrrr. I guess I'll have to even do the download using Parallels.
So for now the best I can do is give you a few links to get started:
- If you want to cut to the chase and download your own copy of Chrome, go to the Google Download page.
- To get the story of how Chrome was developed in a comic book format, check out its story illustrated by Scott McCloud. Be warned, though: I'm fairly familiar with how the web operates, and I found even this version to be too technical much of the time.
- If you have a short attention span, you may prefer watching ten short (30-second) videos explaining important Chrome features.
- This review from the San Francisco Chronicle is pretty superficial, but does offer a first impression of installing and using the browser.
- DeviceGuru's review include screen shots that give you a better idea of how Chrome works.
What's up with the name?
According to Google, they chose the name Chrome—a generic term that refers to the scroll bars and other bits of a browser interface—because their goal was to reduce the chrome on their browser so that you could ignore it.
Another theory is that Google took the name from a cancelled Microsoft project, just to antagonize folks at Microsoft. As far as I'm concerned, either explanation works.
Have you used Google's Chrome? What do you think? Add your comment by clicking below.
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