Google has decided its Chrome Web browser is all grown up-or. Or at least it has outgrown its beta label.
Google launched its fifteenth release of Chrome on Thursday morning, marking the browser’s first step outside the test phase. After absorbing 101 days of user feedback, Google says the latest version is equipped with improved audio and video performance, bookmark features and privacy controls.
Google tests show Chrome runs 1.5 times faster than when the browser first launched in September, according to a Google spokesperson.
Chrome is Google’s head-on challenge to Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox and, of course, Microsoft’s juggernaut Internet Explorer, which has over 70 percent of the browser market. Chrome has 10 million active users world wide, according to Google.
If you’re a Mac user, you’ll still have to wait to use Chrome (or snag one of your friends’ Windows-supported laptops in the meantime), which makes it curious that Google took Chrome out of its beta phase so soon. The Internet giant is working hard to release a Mac and Linux version of Chrome as soon as possible, according to the Google spokesperson.
It’s still unclear if Chrome has the heft to overcome its rivals, but the browser is off to a good start as it took 1 percent of the global browser market within a day of its launch, according to Web traffic analysis company StatCounter. Chrome is likely to get a boost in traffic once its Mac version is released.
Now that Chrome is out of its beta phase, do you think it will threaten Microsoft’s dominance in the browser market? And, most importantly, will you switch from your current browser to Chrome?
(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)
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Chrome is a nice concept. I’m using it every day for work without problems. Much faster than FF.
- Posted by dHI have not swifted my Fireforx browser to Google’s Chrome but most of my colleages have. Their comments focus on the improved audio and video performance, bookmark features and privacy controls. And I am thinking about swifting one to have a try.
- Posted by beijing classifiedsI like FF better because I can use AdBlocker to filter out annoying ads,banners, and pictures. I’ll consider Chrome when a plug-in like AdBlocker is available for it - although the chance of that is highly unlikely because Chrome is from Google and Google gets its revenues from ads.
- Posted by JoeTo Elle: “I am a granny who doesn’t do anything even remotely naughty or ill-advised on the computer … I will either hack the registry or revert to Firefox 2″
Doesn’t compute … a granny that hacks the registry? You must be a very computer literate granny … kudos to you.
- Posted by JoeAlisa:
The chrome application itself is the search bar….just type your search query in the space for the url and thats how you get your google results!….space saving cleverness, cant wait for mac version as firefox 3 is horrendous, truly.
- Posted by Anthony MThe success of chrome will mainly depend on whether the developers manage to devise software that allows the user to load flash animations faster than with competing browsers.
- Posted by Peter MelzerI think for the most part, the Google-heads, techies and true nerds are the ones for now that are going to switch over. I for one, love using the innovations that Google releases, and am a fan of Google as a successful company and as a story of American success.
I think the browser has a couple things going for it…
The ability to maintain its clean design while at the same time providing powerful and comprehensive functionality. The only problem I have come across, and it may be related to my system was the random “Popping” out of my tab when I would switch over to chrome from another application. The tab that I click to rollover to chrome sometimes pops out.
The other problem that I expierence randomly is the slow, curtain fall style loading of pages. Randomly through out the day, I will click over to a tab, and this slow, waterfall like effect takes over, as the page slowly loads and reveals itself from top to bottom.
That so far has been the two things that have bothered me most. The boomarking is fine, and I enjoy the clean interface it provides, and the movable tabs.
- Posted by JeremyI’m sticking with Firefox. It has never failed on me and I have all my bookmarks are favorites on there. I have also heard that Google uses your data to get you “pertinent ads”. No thanks.
- Posted by DiggerjohnThe folks commenting here seem to have a distinct knowledge of the field, and their opinions are probably a good indicator of the reliability of the products mentioned. That said, I don’t think that your average Joe or Jane is ever going to care that much about the intricacies of their browser, and will stick with Microsoft in the long run.
- Posted by Jay