Google Chrome Verdict
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Thursday, 4th September 2008
It may only be a beta, but Google Chrome is certainly getting a lot of people talking and they all seem rather excited - with the exception of John Gapper, whose article in the Financial Times today included a statement about JavaScript being used for video - erm, that would probably be Flash (or indeed, native in HTML5)! JavaScript, of course, is used for a great number of things - but video isn't one of them!
My personal verdict so far (I've done the usual test of trying out the sites I use regularly) is that it's incredibly fast. Not just a bit faster - but so fast you get a feeling of shock. You click... The page is there... It's instant!
Of course, Chrome isn't an exercise in speed, which presumably has the WebKit rendering engine to thank. Chrome is a concept web browser. Google have called it a browser because we all know what one of those is and we'd be put off if you thought of this product as an environment in which everything happens - but that is the idea behind it.
I strongly encourage everyone to download Google Chrome and try it. It's a genuinely impressive addition to the current selection of browsers and you might find it meets your needs better than what you currently use.
You may also find my list of Google Chrome Shortcut and Control Keys useful.