More Chrome

Mercy Sakes! When I went on about my love of Chrome the other day I did not realize that my favorite search engine was about to come out with its very own browser. A browser named Chrome.

So I downloaded it.   After I read the service agreement.  I hate those things!  No one I know ever reads them, and I don't think they were even written by humans.  And they all have the little disclaimer that even though you are agreeing to these set terms, the other party has the right to change the terms if it strikes their fancy.  So why bother????  

At least the computer isn't impatient like mortgage brokers.  It  doesn't sigh heavily and say things like, "it's just a standard contract" or "don't worry about that part, in 27 years I've never seen that happen" or "Yeah, the contract says that but don't worry. . . . ."

Not that I have issues!  But think about this - the US Constitution, which is like a service agreement for our entire nation, is about forty four hundred words long.  The Google Chrome service agreement is four thousand plus words.   So downloading and using a free browser is almost as legally complex as setting up a governing body for a democracy?  

So back on topic. . . .

This isn't really a product review - for two reasons.  First and foremost; I am not the least bit qualified to review technology of any kind.  (I had not even realized until several days after I downloaded Chrome that I had done so on the very first day it was available.   I do not believe I have ever been so cutting edge before, and I doubt I ever will be again.)

The second reason is more obvious - no pink ribbon!  The only products we review here are Pink Ribbon Products!  Which I need to address in a later post - which will naturally refer back to this post.  

But I will share with you my experiences and opinions of Google Chrome.

After reading the service agreement (I think I read all of it, I suspect I dozed off at one point) I hit "download now".  I blinked and it was downloaded.  So far so good.

It is as clean and simple as Google, which would make a certain amount of sense.

It is so very much faster than IE and FireFox.  It has tabs, which seem to be behaving well.  In FireFox the first link/right click choice is "Open in New Window" and the second is "Open in New Tab".  In Chrome, "New Tab" is the first choice and "New Window" is the second.  I'm guessing a person with a more nimble brain than I would be able to make clicking the first option a habit in less than a week but that's about how long it took me!

Apparently one of the feature of Chrome is "Incognito Window."  I'll let Google themselves explain:

For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, for example, to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays, Google Chrome offers the incognito browsing mode. Webpages that you open and files downloaded while you are incognito won't be logged in your browsing and download histories; all new cookies are deleted after you close the incognito window. You can browse normally and in incognito mode at the same time by using separate windows.

I've heard people refer to this as the p0rn window.  Obviously they didn't know that it is only for good secrecy, like birthday gifts!

So Chrome seems to be a great product so far.  I'm a slow person in many ways but I like my Internet fast!  And Chrome is fast.  It is simple.  It is clean and uncluttered.  (Forgive me for obsessing on that point but right now Google Chrome is the only thing in my life not filled with clutter)

There are two things I miss that I am almost hesitant to mention - for reasons I will explain in next post that I referred to earlier. 

When searching I like the option  of the browser finding your search terms on the page you are on.  If there is a way to do this with Chrome I haven't found it.

My other disappointment is huge.  And serious.  If Chrome were not so fast and clean it would even be a deal breaker.  I would have uninstalled it and returned to MS, begging their forgiveness for dropping IE.

I want you to look at this picture of the chrome browser:

Notice anything? 

 Like maybe the color?  

It's not Chrome!  I repeat, IT'S NOT CHROME!  It's not even polished aluminum!  It's not even pewter for crying out loud!

Do they call the common MS headache the "Chrome Screen of Death"?  No, they call it a blue screen because it is blue.  As is the Google Chrome Browser.  C'mon Google guys - please, please, please, pretty please make Chrome chrome. 

Am I the only one distressed by this?

If you haven't downloaded Chrome yet I would recommend it - unless there is some tech reason against it that I don't know about.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Even though one has to read and agree to a four thousand word legal document in order to download Chrome, once you have it Google makes it easy for you.  They have videos to explain how to use it and a comic book explaining 'key engineering decisions'.  Here is a sample page from the comic book:

It's in black and white so I'm not sure what color the tie dye shirt being worn by the young lady is.  I can only hope that it is a Team H.O.P.E.  pink tie dye shirt!

Have a wonderful day free from the blues!

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