Initial Chrome Thoughts and Reactions

Posted on September 2, 2008 No Comments

As you’ve likely heard, Google released the first beta of Google Chrome (windows only at this time). This is their entrance into the browser field and is based on WebKit (like Apple’s Safari browser).

I haven’t used it enough to have much for opinions, but here are some early thoughts and reactions:

It certainly is fast on JavaScript heavy sites. For instance, opening mail in Gmail is almost stunningly fast.
No extensions. If you’re a Firefox extensions addict, you may be a bit lost.
- Missing adblock? Marc Brooks had a succinct tweet on a possible work-around using OpenDNS.
Be sure to read the fine print on the terms of service. (another article on that topic) Nothing too scary (imho) but some folks might be alarmed.
- Matt Cutts answers some of those concerns, and more, in his post today.
The task manager thing is cool – the link from it to “Stats for nerds” is even cooler
- Another route to those nerdly stats: type about:memory in the address bar. Notice that you can hit F5 to refresh the resulting page and stats.
There’s a ZDNet security blog post up about a possible “carpet-bombing” vulnerability already.