GOOGLE Chrome, The Browser and why I like it

Now, I know this is my photography blog, but part of my blog is to review new products and software. I was recently on Linked-In and answered a question with regard to the new browser from Google named Chrome. The question was basically, do you like it and if so why. The following is the reply I gave on Linked-In and thought it would be a good review while also providing some insight into the product at the same time. Hi Christina,I use the Google browser and I like it. The simple reason is that it is compliant and wicked fast. Having said that I also use Firefox, IE, Opera, and SeaMonkey. But when you do any kind of web development it’s a good thing to test on multiple browsers.There is a point to the Google browser its entire design premised was to be optimized complaint and fast so that web developers could build next generation applications (think web 2.0 and cloud computing) as opposed to just augmenting our already bloated browsers. This isn’t a “Me Too” effort, this is something new, something different and something designed to take not just the browser to the next level but something to empower developers to create “What’s Next” on the web. One of the largest issues with the AJAX web sites (early Web 2.0) sites is that they browsers now are too slow at running the JavaScript. As a result, the applications are slow and sluggish and have been met with relatively low success. Now, with Chrome, the JavaScript engine has been completely re-written and optimized for JavaScript (reportedly 57 times faster than IE). That is the power that will allow developers to go forward and create the web apps of tomorrow now. If Google took this and put it on your phone the speed of web applications on mobile devices would then be to a point where a desktop isn’t necessary but that’s a different discuss for another time.When I think about it, it’s clear just how deep Google planned this new approach to promoting web and cloud development. The team went to a huge effort to protect the tabs and ensure that the application running in individual tabs didn’t affect each other. Meaning, if a web page or app dies, rather than taking down the entire browser only that tab is affected. This was yet another significant design step in making sure that web applications could run in an isolated space and not be at the mercy of someone else’s poorly written site or app. Now, a site can crash and you can close that tab and everything just runs, its really nice to see work and honestly, its about time. While tabbed browsing has been around for awhile, this approach is more like virtual machines on each tab and is a fantastic step forward. Another really neat feature is tab dragging. If you want to see what a web app looks like, go to Gmail, drag a tab out to create a new window and set it to create an APP Shortcut. This makes the browser look like a regular application window (meaning the UI from the browser is removed and you work as if it’s a desktop APP). This is real nice feature that further demonstrates the thought and detail that was given to creating web applications.So, for some, Chrome could be a real nice replacement for their current browser of choice. For others who are married to IE or FireFox and each browsers respective add-ons they may not like it much. But I tell you this, neither of those browsers are doing anything to promote the future and entice the growth of rich applications on the web. (well FireFox is closer) Chrome sets a new standard and it will be something that forces Microsoft and others to take a good look at what they are building and change their current development approach. While Google (and now… imagine this Microsoft) are getting heavily into Cloud computing the drive will be to change the container in which these applications operate in. Chrome is that first step and man-oh-man is it about time and it makes perfect sense that Google would do this.While the industry has speculated that they would create their own browser for sometime its no wonder that it didn’t come out until they were positioned with the infrastructure they now have in place to create something “completely different.” Now Google has everything they need to truly go to new levels in the industry. With their massive investment in datacenters and infrastructure, their deep and talented development team and now a highly optimized presentation layer to do it in.Check it out, but when you play with it, don’t make the mistake of looking at it as a competitor with IE or FireFox. Rather, take a deeper look and see it for what it really was intended to be.I know I sound like a Google evangelist here, but I am not. I am just an old school developer that really appreciates products and application that make a difference, had a vision and executed to that vision well. I promise you, Cloud computing is coming; Amazon has spent a ton in DEV and infrastructure getting into this space. Google and Microsoft are next and even companies like RackSpace (Mosso) are getting into the promise of Cloud computing. Chrome will definitely have a place in your browsing future. Maybe not this release, but remember this was only version 1.0.I should have blogged this.  Hope it helped.</david>