Google Chrome Manual
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Google Chrome may be too simple.
John Brandon asks this morning whether interest in Google Chrome is already waning. He feels that:
People use IE because it comes pre-installed and does mostly what they need it to. Walk into an office and glance around — you will see a lot of IE. Those who know better use Firefox because it is more stable, more secure, and faster. Where does that leave Chrome? I think as a third option for early adopters. But those who just need to get work done, who use Gmail and are too busy to mess around with bugs have probably all switched back to Firefox.
Just after the launch there was an initial flurry of interest. Mark Evans commented that a number of people had checked it out with some like Walter Mossberg liking it and others like Alec Saunders suggesting it was all a shell game. Mark Evans even questioned, What Took Google So Long?
Some experts such as John Andrews even warned that ‘under the hood’ there was a Google Chrome Bait ‘n Switch. That was because of some unfortunate language in the Agreement that all users had to agree to. Google beat a hasty retreat on that one but it still left a negative impression for some.
By now, everything in the garden should be lovely. However like John Brandon, I am still left with the question as to whether this browser really has any natural customers. Clearly the power users find it lacking, yet the novices may well find its apparent simplicity somewhat baffling. I am still trying to get the Omnisearch field to accept searches with other search engines. I should be able to type ‘Yahoo cheeses‘ and get a search on Yahoo for cheeses. Perhaps the problem as PCWorld explains is that I am using Windows XP.
Type ‘google fish sticks’ to search for fish sticks on Google. The same syntax works for Yahoo, Amazon, Live Search, and other sites that are already recognized by Google or that you add. This feature, though nifty and promising, proved inconsistent in the early going: It worked for me most of the time on a Windows Vista PC, but two of my colleagues who were testing Chrome on Windows XP machines had trouble getting the feature to work.
It is all very well to have an ultra-simple browser like this, however a user manual is always obligatory. The only one I could find is the Power User’s Guide to Google Chrome. That title is an oxymoron if ever I heard one.
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September 17th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Thanks, interesting links. I posted my own findings from Google Analytics and I’m seeing Chrome growing slowly daily and eating away at Firefox while Internet Explorer seems to be maintaining it’s share. So it looks like Chrome is actually cannibalizing the alternative browser share market.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Just my opinion…but Google seems to be getting in the habit of launching new products or features, then moving onto other things while providing fairly limited support for older products. An example is a serious Blogger bug that Google refuses to fix, which is the ability to have your blogs posted to a domain name hosted on a third party server. Sometimes this feature works, but more often that not it doesn’t. There have been frustrated bloggers screaming about this problem for months and I have never seen any kind of response from Google/Blogger, so apparently they are very unconcerned. So personally, I am in no hurry to go through the frustration of switching browsers. I am a Firefox user. It works well and there is no reason to switch, especially given Google’s history of not fixing bugs. My two cents.
I’m Jerry Work with workmedia.net in Nashville, Tennessee.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I have to admit, I’m not thoroughly impressed with google chrome. It seems very bland and boring. I too agree to the response above me. Who knows how long until google seems to fade away from the chrome project. Only time will tell..
September 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I think we all forget how big google it… why would they just let it go? They will continue to improve it and make it better then any other because they can take advantage of their adsense with it, just like firefox gets paid by google for anyone using that browser and searches the default google page.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Chrome is just horrible talk about a heavy browser. I love the days of the first firefox where everything where the load times where amazing but even with firefox 3 having tons of code it still way amazing compared to Google Chrome. It goes to the point of Google keeps trying to get into everything they might be amazing as a search engine but geez browsers come on LMAO!!
October 4th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I like Google Chrome, I am just waiting for the ability to add add-ons to it. I feel Chrome it is lacking a little bit in that area. I really like the fact that each tab is its own platform so you wont crash everything you are working on from the account of one site.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Chrome rocks in every way. Google has once again proven that it has what is needed to deliver great products. it is an exceptional browser and download time may be a dash slower than other browsers but the app load time, smooth rendering, space utilization etc are great.