Now that everybody’s got a good look at Google’s Chrome, the general feeling is that the browser should be able to keep that initial luster. It’s super fast, but is not without its bugs. We imagine it won’t be long before Google patches a security flaw that could allow some hacker carpet-bombing.
Security
The security flaw does appear to be a mere oversight and is similar to flaws recently demonstrated in Apple Safari (WebKit) and Internet Explorer earlier this year. Both were patched relatively quickly. “Carpet-bombing” in computer terms is the act of peppering a person’s desktop with executable file popups; allowing it to download could cause an infection. Aviv Raff demonstrated the flaw by combining two vulnerabilities, one from WebKit and one recently proven in Java.
Speed
Other than that initial issue (Chrome is in beta, so likely most will forgive), bloggers seem to like it. Testing by Stephen Shankland at Cnet pegs Chrome as 10-15 times faster than the latest versions of IE, Firefox, and Safari. Walt Mossberg’s test came out a little differently though; Mossberg complained of load times in general and declared Chrome faster than only the beta version of IE 8.
But still, the overall grade is good, maybe a B+ or A-. Mossberg writes, “My verdict: Chrome is a smart, innovative browser that, in many common scenarios, will make using the Web faster, easier and less frustrating. But this first version — which is just a beta, or test, release — is rough around the edges and lacks some common browser features Google plans to add later. These omissions include a way to manage bookmarks, a command for emailing links and pages directly from the browser, and even a progress bar to show how much of a Web page has loaded.”
Privacy
Meanwhile, back at the Googleplex, Matt Cutts takes a proactive approach at addressing privacy fears to thwart the inevitable conspiracy theories. Cutts blogs that Chrome does not keep tabs on users’ browsing and clicking habits and send that information back to Google. Chrome does occasionally communicate with Google.com to offer search query and URL suggestions in the Omnibox, and to suggest reroutes in the event of a 404 page.
Chrome checks for automatic updates every 25 hours, and every 30 minutes it downloads a list of 32-bit URL hashes of URLS thought to be dangerous due to malware. When a user chooses a language, Chrome downloads a spellcheck dictionary. Crash reports and other anonymous usage statistics are opt-in, meaning a user would have to choose to send Google that information.
Search
The Omnibox combines what used to be two separate mechanisms: the URL bar and the search box. Users can type in a Web address or a keyword and Chrome will choose which function is appropriate while suggesting queries and URLs on the fly. After visiting a site like Amazon.com once, relays Danny Sullivan, Omnibox presents the option of searching Amazon only instead of the entire Web.
