Comments on: How Can Google Chrome Become More Popular?

By: tamas

tamas — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:35:55 +0000

I read half of the comments and they are miss features from Chrome which are already implemented, just use the latest “Dev Channel” 3.x version. E.g. the “awesome bar” is much more awesome in Chrome than in FF: e.g full text search in the already visited pages. Somebody missed youtube: search from the search bar. It’s there not just for youtube but any search engines which has a search box and a search button since v1.0. There’s no need to manage search plugins. Some people miss firebug. Chrome’s JS debugger is awesome in the latest dev. version. Stack trace in the debugger & auto breakpoints at exceptions anyone? Some people miss the plugins. It’s coming, (it’s already there in the dev channel version) and it’s gonna be extremly easy to develop extensions with minimal knowledge of js/html/css. Some people miss auto upgrade. ??? It’s there. You just don’t even notice that it was upgraded. While FF starts slowly every second time to upgrade itself.. Chrome phones home… sure, but please check the Options dialog where you can disable all the features which require ‘phoning home’.

So Chrome is the best choice for web developers & for people who don’t like to wait during (or before) browsing.

By: CurtBennett

CurtBennett — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:57:08 +0000

This topic almost perfectly fits my development motto: “The average person’s learning curve tolerance is practically a flat line.”

Non-techies have no idea what “chrome” means in the tech world. Even a significant number of techies I know had never heard the term before Chrome was released. Since the name means nothing to most people, a name change is certainly within reason. In the Times Square video, everyone at least knew or figured out that “browser” was some sort of reference to the web, so maybe something simple like “Google Web Browser” would be good enough to be obvious to even the least technical users as to it’s purpose.

I think Google is already doing a good job on where and how it’s promoting Chrome though. I had to check my Gmail account today from a computer that only had IE and it had a note below the search box that said something like “Gmail is faster with Google Chrome. Download it?”

As far as phoning home and add-ons are concerned, non-techies just don’t care about these things. As long as it displays normal pages properly and lets them view things like Flash videos and PDFs without any strange prompts, they’re happy, and making sure they’re happy is priority #1 for getting Chrome accepted and adopted by the masses.

I do consider myself a privacy advocate though, and I sincerely hope that Google will soon put a simple checkbox somewhere in the browser settings that will allow us to turn off background data transfers that we don’t explicitly authorize.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less if Chrome ever gets developer add-ons though. I’m going to use at least 3 browsers for the foreseeable future anyway, which includes one that already has all the developer features I like. Tweak in one, test in all, publish, wait for complaints. :)

By: yinrunning

yinrunning — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:15:49 +0000

I think this all misses the point. Google doesn’t care how many people use the browser. It makes money whenever people are using the Internet. If people use the Internet through Chrome, or some Chrome features find their way into other browsers and make them better, or if the Chrome featureset ends up spawning some big killer feature: then great. If not: then great. They win either way. Gmail, Maps, Wave, Search, Books, Translate, Analytics, YouTube, and on and on an on… When you have so many game-changing product offerings, none of them individually have to be the 800-pound gorilla in their bracket. They just have to hold their own. Chrome holds its own, and will continue to. I can think of lots of things that I would add to lots of Google products.

To look @ it a different way: If you had that much revenue and felt like launching a new browser offering… Why wouldn’t you? They do it because they can, not to keep the stock price up.

The only thing I agree with other than that on this page is that if they want web dev’s to champion Chrome the way we’ve championed FF for years: Telling friends and family about it, installing it on every machine we touch, wearing t-shirts, etc. etc. then who cares about Gears, render speed, process isolation, or anything else. GIVE US ADDONS. If I can’t have Web Dev Toolbar, FF-style JavaScript console, ShowIP, MeasureIt, Firebug, and a few other things? I can’t use it. I have work to do. The addons are what make Firefox. Lord knows its render times are like a pot-smoking fat girl who just ate too many pizzas trying to run up a hill. *eye roll*

By: Pancho

Pancho — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:42:23 +0000

I wish I could combine all three. I use IE8 about 50% of the time, Firefox and Chrome 25/25. Each has some unique and useful features the other two do not have. Like the Windows and Linux wars, I have never understood why it has to be all or nothing. Use the best tool available for the specific task at hand.

By: materix

materix — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:51:50 +0000

Chrome has become my preferred browser. The reason is that my computer is quite old and runs quite slowly, and Chrome has by far the fastest load-time. I do not hope that they introduce extensions and other heavy loading features into the browser in the future.

By: Clare W

Clare W — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:36:46 +0000

Add Ons. People follow other people who “know more” … so once those people (who need the add-ons) start using Google Chrome, others will follow. Oh and for the Mac. no brainer.

By: Jonny Haynes

Jonny Haynes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:57:29 +0000

@WavyDavy and first poster,

They’re not sending off information without your consent. You agreed to do that when you signed the EULA.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:27:29 +0000

I just switched to firefox from safari, wanting to try chrome.

By: busy

busy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:43:38 +0000

I switched to Chrome recently, and now Firefox feels extremely sluggish, especially the time it takes to start up. I still occasionally use it when I really need firebug or web developer toolbar, but mostly I’m over it.

I could end up going to Opera since my informal tests say it starts as quick as Chrome, but for now I’m very happy with using Chrome for most browsing.

I do miss mouse gestures though. :/

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:33:54 +0000

I have to run Vista in basic mode when I use Fireworks (graphics program) Chrome’s minimize, maximize, and close buttons quit working. That should be fixed. I would like a “Print preview,” like any other normal Windows program. The “Save page as…” feature doesn’t seem to save the code without modification. Hate that. For checking XML pages, Chrome should behave as Firefox and IE and display the tags, not hide them.

For marketing, press the speed issue, Chrome is fast. I like how the history shows me the sites I’ve visited in order, it gives me a better chance of finding “um…that site I visited two weeks ago…something I linked to after I read that news story…”

Anyone use the Incognito window?