Google’s Assault on Windows

Google launched today its latest attack on the evil empire that is Microsoft. Google Chrome is a web browser up against IE, Firefox and Safari. Chrome is the much talked about Google Operating System, utilizing Google Gears.

The main idea for this browser is speed and offline integration with Google’s cloud, allowing offline access to Google Reader or Gmail. From a memory hog standpoint, Chrome seems to hold up better against Firefox 3. Memory issues and leaks are one of my biggest issues with FF. One of the best examples of Chrome/Google Gears is the Myspace power messaging using Gears, allowing for sorting and searching of your Myspace messages using your computer, instead of always requesting the server. The end result are response times that are more like a computer application instead of a webpage. From a web surfing perspective, Chrome is very very fast.

Some other features of Chrome (from CrunchBase):

• Tabbed browsing where each tab gets its own process, leading to faster and more stable browsing. If one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn’t go down with it
• A distinct user interface that places tabs on top of the browser window instead of right below the address bar
• An “incognito” mode that lets you browse the web in complete privacy because it doesn’t record any of your activity
• A new JavaScript engine built from the ground up for speed
• Malware and phishing lists that automatically update themselves and warn you of bad websites
• A default homepage that displays your most commonly used sites and other personalized information

I’m looking forward to testing it out, but will be hard pressed to give up Firefox with its ad blocking, mouse gestures and other handy add-ons.

US Open Women’s Final »« Obama’s Acceptance Speech