This post shows just why Chromecast is such a big deal. I’m surprised at the negativity of some of the coverage. This little stick is great and at a phenomenal price.
Read 10 Things You Need To Know About Google’s New Chromecast
This post shows just why Chromecast is such a big deal. I’m surprised at the negativity of some of the coverage. This little stick is great and at a phenomenal price.
Read 10 Things You Need To Know About Google’s New Chromecast
Why is it so many people are jumping up and down shouting “OPERATING SYSTEM” now that Chrome is out. I mean come on, out of all the big four (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera) it’s the most basic browser you can possible get. I has a grand total of 4 options (okay, I’m exaggerating slightly) and takes up a fraction of the disk space.
In fact, if Chrome is an OS, then so is Firefox. In firefox, I can blog, I can manage my e-mail, I can keep up to date with my favourite blogs, I can listen to my music, I can check the weather, I can see what time it is, and a whole host of other every day tasks that Chrome hasn’t even touched upon.
Hype has it’s limits and throwing words like operating system around because of a new web browser are very much going beyond those limits. Seriously, it’s not healthy. Stop it.
Now, I understand why Chrome is exciting. The ability to separate web apps from the normal browsing experience is big. It’s the way things are going. Eventually we’ll all be running thin clients using streamed and/or web-based apps and so the need for big operating systems like Windows simply won’t be there.
Google knows this so they’re simply making the next logical step – providing the tools to help make that transition. In the same vein, they’re fully aware that more and more people are becoming wise to the availability of services on their mobile phones and need a better user experience – hence the Android project.
I’ve long thought that Google is essentially setting itself up to be the new ‘backbone’ for web surfers. They’re already doing this with search by powering over 70% of all searches on line. Chrome is simply an extension that looks to the future.
We will still need operating systems and they will still come from the likes of Microsoft, Apple and the Linux community. Google may make a foray into that area but for now what they’ve done is build a damn good web browser. Nothing more, nothing less.
Update: I’m not the only one frustrated by all this “WebOS” talk.
I’ve resisted up until now, but I can’t hold it in any more. I feel like the odd one out. The only person not shouting about Google Chrome. Even my mates where talking it up down the local watering hole. They’re usually my break from internet-related topics!
I’ve been a FireFox user since version 0.8 when it was still called Firebird. Before that I even used Mozilla for a time. We’ve fallen out occasionally but I still love it’s speed and all those countless little features that make browsing so much more efficient; like saving tabs when you exit, a more usable web history search from the address bar, quicker bookmarking and a host of others.
I have to admit though, of late, I’ve been frustrated with how clunky it can be. I know it’s because I have a fair few add-ons installed but I keep them down to only those that I use day in, day out. I tried Apple’s Safari for a time, which was great because it was so fast but I simple couldn’t live without those little touches and the add-ons.
I’ve also tried out Prism, Mozilla’s answer to the growing trend of web-based applications moving us away from the desktop. Prism aimed to give us a desktop application-like way of using web applications. It just didn’t live up to expectations, though. The functionality was very basic and some simple settings (of the few available) just didn’t work.
Reading through Google’s own buzz about Chrome (I only ever listen to the horse until after I’ve tried something out for myself) I have to admit, I wasn’t that excited. It sounded like just another browser with a couple more features; nothing special. It claimed to handled web apps that like to crash the browser (something Firefox definitely suffers from) well and touted a special way to handle your favourite web apps. None of the language really jumped out at me though. Maybe I’m just too cynical.
The install was quick and I was off on my way in no time. I checked out some of the documentation and quickly found out how to create desktop ‘apps’ from my favourite web apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader (yes I’m a Googaphobe) and got cracking.
The first thing I noticed was speed – it’s a huge improvement. Even over Safari which scared me ’cause it seemed to pre-empt my actions and do it for me. Handling complex apps like Gmail seemed to be a breeze for Chrome and I had one of those rare moments where I want to play around with something just ’cause it feels fun. (The last time that happened was when I got my Nokia N95 and figured out I could use GPS with Google Maps!)
I was impressed so I made it my default browser and decided to get on with my day just like any other. Chrome lasted a good few hours, which is less than Safari. Which is not to say Safari is a better browser, I don’t believe it is. I just knew what to look for with Chrome more so than I did with Safari.
The main problems I had with Chrome were (in no particular order);
It’s not all doom and gloom. Like I said, I was impressed, and here’s why;
So there are things I love and things I don’t love but overall Chrome, for me, is a stellar browser. Google have outdone their competitors on plenty of fronts once again. It’ll be interesting to see whether Firefox’s new version can compete on speed with Chrome’s “V8” Javascript engine.
For now, I’ll just be using Chrome to separate my favourite web apps from my normal browser experience. That might get a bit annoying as any web links will open in Chrome, not the default web browser (Firefox) but I’ll cope until they fix that (ha!), but I’ll give it a go.