Remember the Chrome?

10 Comments

Google Chrome So about two months ago the internet buzz was roaring and more importantly raving about the launch of Google’s new web browser, Chrome. The online dialed in masses were rushing to download the ultra lightweight, turbo browser that was promising to revolutionize web surfing as we all knew it. We braced ourselves for the comprehensive tide of change to sweep through cyberspace, waiting for it’s wake to alter the world wide web. And we are still waiting, months later.

In the beginning

There was loads of promise pervading the framework that Google had assembled and adeptly delivered, but the shortcomings that limited it’s seamless introduction into the average users routine still have yet to be fully resolved. Having been based on familiar standards, the community assumed that it would only be a short matter of time before the plugins that make our online lives so much simpler were soon to be exploding across the web as well. But everything since, has been so under the radar that Chrome, in large part, is being forgotten about. This potential filled program has just been left out on the doorstep waiting for some kind family to take it in and nurture it the way it deserves.

The road gets rocky

It seems that the initial push for the program was all that could be mustered, and now it simply crawls along without any further hype or hoopla. Almost as if Google has just moved on. Leaving the rest up to the community, without helping to promote their project as they had initially. Mac and Linux users have had to rely on WINE support to use the browser, as Google techs have yet to release the promised versions for other operating systems. Perhaps the initial controversy as reported by cnet over the Chrome terms of service, which initially stated that the company would retain “a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through” Chrome, has deterred the public’s overwhelming acceptance of the browser. And while Google amended it’s license agreement once the objections began to pour in, and they even tried to offer an explanation about borrowed language, but perhaps the damage had already been done.

Even with the company’s insistence that the usage information Chrome collects and transmits back to Google was merely for security and stability issues, the reporting still did not sit well with a number of users. And though developers found ways to disable this feature it seems that people have still turned away from the browser that was once being hailed and praised from all directions. Where Chrome goes from here is any one’s guess, but it sure seems to have gotten off to a rocky start. One that the browser may not be able to fully recover from.

Where do we go from here

If you’d like to explore the browser further, here are a couple of links that may help. Google links to this blog about browser news and releases Google Chrome Releases, so you might want to start there with updates and plugins. There are forums that you can sign up on to follow the progression of the program, and one such place is Google Chrome Plugins. So there are resources, and new developments happening with Chrome, but is the community actually responding? Not as strongly as they had in the beginning, but to some degree they are. Is it going to be enough to pull Chrome out of this slump and bring it with all of it’s glory to the forefront of browsing? We can only wait and see.

How do you feel about it?

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10 Comments »

pudly said:

Just a note that all your links in this article are not functioning

# 20 November 2008 at 4:22 pm

Angie Bowen said:

@Pudly - Thanks so much for letting us know. I can’t figure out why it’s trying to put our address in front of all of the links. I’m working on it now though.

# 20 November 2008 at 4:44 pm

Sigurdur Armannsson said:

Actually I had nearly forgotten about Chrome for the mac. I am not so sure I am that excited about it anymore. Although I have to say it works quite nicely on a pc I put it on.

I put my name on their mail list months ago to get news of the mac version but they have not sent me a single word yet.

In the meantime I am really happy with what I have on mac, Safari, Firefox, Opera, OmniWeb and Shiira.

Sigurdur Armannssons last blog post..Skissubækur – kompur

# 21 November 2008 at 2:33 am

Angie Bowen said:

@Sigurdur - I feel the same way. I’m really happy with Firefox and don’t really want to change to something that doesn’t seem to be getting much support. I really liked how fast it was when I first tried it but since I’ve gotten my new computer that’s not as bit a deal anymore.

Thanks for the comment!

# 21 November 2008 at 3:04 pm

Joe Hana said:

Call me an ignorant, but I never believed in this Browser. From the first time I heard about it I was warned.

I already thought that something like this would happen cause even a global Player like Google can fall down deep - we all have seen it with Microsoft…

I hope anyway that Google will lose much of the market, because from day to day people starts thinking and seeing that Google is nothing more than a big big Database knowing everything from everybody (even it is not shown in the Google Search Results)

Take off your pink glasses and look at the reality…and if you really choose Chrome (or another Google Product) you could even open the door to your house wide and let strangers watch you sitting on the toilet…making business…

# 22 November 2008 at 12:17 am

Janko said:

At first I thought it is going to be a nightmare for web developers. Yet another browser to think about. But it turned out that it works pretty well.

However, I’d agree that after almost glamor start it is slowly fading. I just can’t image the browser that will force me not to use Firefox.

Jankos last blog post..Free wooden texture pack

# 22 November 2008 at 1:22 am

Kenny Villacorta said:

I use Chrome, but not as my default browser. I have been pretty satisfied with the loading speed of websites, but I am even more impressed with the speed of running web applications. That’s what Google is after. Google as well as anyone else can use Chrome as the basis for developing next generation online applications. When I saw during the Google presentation that Chrome has a built task manager, right away I thought this is more than a browser.

I much rather use Chrome, Safari, Opera, or Firefox 3 than IE 6, 7, or 8. I only use IE whenever I access Netflix online and websites that are not displaying properly in neither browser.

Conforming to open standards is the way to go and it seems to work with Opera, Safari, Firefox and Chrome.

# 23 November 2008 at 12:46 am