September 2, 2008

Google Chrome (Beta) : Google's browser project

It's a really exciting news, that Google entered the browser war with a new open source browser called Chrome today (09/02/08). Chrome inherits components from WebKit and Mozilla. The main aim is to improve the browser stability, speed and security with a more simple and efficient user interface.






Google is using a new approach to promote Chrome, It's really cool that they are using a more cartoonish way for promoting it. They provided a comic book explaining about Chrome.

Security Features

  • Blacklists : Chrome keeps two blacklists and periodically updates it, warns the user whenever the user is trying to access a harmful site.

  • Sandboxing : In Chrome each tab is sandboxed (sandbox is a security mechanism for safely running programs) to prevent malicious codes running and malware from installing itself.

  • Incognito : This is a feature that enable the user to browse without leaving any trails (It won't store any cookies and it won't record any of your actions).It is similar to Safari's Private Browsing and Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Mode.It lets the user to browse the internet with complete privacy.

Speed

  • JavaScript : Chrome developers developed a new Java Script engine called V8 JavaScript Engine. This V8 Engine is optimized for speed and reliability.

Stability

  • Multiprocessing : Most of the existing web browsers are single-threaded.The chrome is implemented with a multiprocessing architecture.Each tab and plugin, other tasks are considered as a separate process.This ensures more security and robustness.

  • Task Manager : There is a task manager which allows user to see which sites are using the most memory,downloading,etc.. and the user can terminate the unwanted sites,scripts or addons.

User interface

  • Gears : Google Gears is included with Chrome which adds developer features for web application development,etc..

  • New Tab Page : This feature replaces the home page with a 'New Tab Page' (an idea similar to Opera Speed Dial).This page shows the thumbnails of most visited web sites, most often searched sites and most recently closed tabs.

  • Omnibox : It's the same URL box at the top of each tab, it includes auto complete functionality that are manually entered,search suggestions and often visted pages,etc..

  • Popups : The popups will appear inside the mother tab and only appear outside if the user drags them out of the tab.

  • Rendering engine : It is a more memory efficient,based WebKit rendering engine.It's very efficient and useful for embedded devices.

  • Tabs : Instead of traditional tabs (windows containing tabs) the tabs are moved to the top of the window to provide more flexibility.

  • Webapps : These can be launched in their own streamlined window.And thus ensuring robustness.

OS Support

Google Chrome is currently released for Windows and Mac, Linux Versions will be ready soon (They are working on it).

Pros and Cons (new)

Just downloaded and installed Chrome, here is a quick review !. This one is an easy to install software. The interface looks more drab compared to Firefox and Safari.The features are great, and the browsing is pretty faster with Chrome. The OmbiBox and New Tab Page features are very useful, It might be stable and secure but the browser lacks a number of features that are essential.


Related Links




Just now Google activated the Chrome site, while I was writing this post!

2 comments:

Unnikrishnan R said...

Wow! It's good to know that Mac users can finally experience chrome. I really hope that the chrome code base is imported into Firefox. Firefox and chrome are not competitors. They will only complement each other. The real target is IE. And they don't stand a chance considering the fact that the latest in the IE series, IE 8 beats even windows xp in gobbling up system resources.

Dharan P Deepak said...

but the sad thing is chrome for Mac and Linux are not yet available... they are still working on it..