10 Myths about Google Chrome Browser

Point taken, Svetlana, but your language is misleading. This post does not really “debunk myths” about Google Chrome at all; rather, it simply points out that other browsers (mostly ie8) have many of the same features. Which is fine. No reason you can’t argue that people should give each browser a fair shake based on its merits alone.

But you’re also assuming, on each comparison, that all other things are equal, and that, taken as a whole, Chrome can’t be said to be preferable to IE8 simply because Chrome shares some of its features. The fact that you’ve had to call on examples from several browsers seems to suggest that Chrome combines features that, so far, no one else has. Is that not innovative?

Also, what about things like performance? If, hypothetically, Chrome proved to be 30% faster than any other browser and used 20% less memory, would that not be an innovation?

You’re accusing people of writing off IE8 because they don’t like Microsoft, but this comes of as the same kind of thing: implying that Google is lying about Chrome simply because you thought its launch was “pompous” and “overhyped.”

I noticed all this too. I usually end up using 2 browsers simultaneously and it used to be Firefox and IE. Once Chrome came into the picture, I tried out Firefox and Chrome combination.. For some strange reason, Every time I used Firefox and Chrome together, Firefox hung. Got hit a couple of times and then went back to my old combination of Firefox and IE. No problems whatsoever! Now I’m pretty sure there’s some bug that makes Firefox hang when I use the two simultaneously!

I want to point out something here. The so called ‘tab isolation’ doesn’t work as told by Microsoft. I’ve seen this issue several times, when all the tabs crash because of one. The difference being the browser doesn’t crash, but all the tabs have to reload. Chrome has implemented this well. And to be honest, I haven’t seen a tab crash in Chrome yet to judge the tab isolation feature. It’s that stable.
And that inline Find feature. Microsoft is VERY late to implement that. Firefox has had it since AGES. And I don’t think this feature is something to be touted, it’s a must have for any browser.
Based on performance and efficiency, Chrome kicks all browsers where it hurts the most. To the end user, this is what counts.
Chrome is like the iPhone of Browsers. It might not have everything new, but it does whatever it does, very well.

I must agree with Craig, I do not this you debunked anything, I guess with the exception of Myth #4, there really isn’t real Myths here.

I’ll try to keep my strictly linux/GNU views out of my comment here, however I’d be lying to say that I don’t see a whole lot of IE/Microsoft free-advertising going on here.

You state these features are ‘myths’ but myths are untrue things and all you seem to point out are common features between Chrome and IE8 beta. IE8 beta is not the common browser at the moment so it’s use as a current standard for comparison is kind of irrelevant imo. Chrome is the newbie to the browser world that we’re comparing, not IE8.

Secondly again your so called myths of the features of Chrome seems to be missing the entire purpose of Chrome. To take the best liked features of all browsers and put them into one so that people who don’t use XP/Vista don’t lose features and functionality to a closed-source unshared market. Nor are they bound with their only other option being firefox. I’ve been an avid user of firefox since release but I am psyched to see what Google can provide.

The Google ’stealing your data’ scares everyone is blogging about is really irritating as well. Myth #4 isn’t relevant because even the current Google toolbar that a large majority of users have installed on their PC sends data to Google’s servers when you type into them. That’s how they provide you with common related searches to make searching easier and I feel it is an excellent feature that I certainly don’t want to lose. It’s efficient, saves time and provides a great service. I can’t be concerned that my privacy is threatened any because I’m using a search utility…on somebody else’s server…for information provided by other people. I’m not typing “www.(mybankaccountnumber and pin).com” and posting it on a website database for the world to see. Google might be a cooperation and corporations might make money but that doesn’t instantly make them evil, if that is your big concern… I’d take a second look at your beloved Microsoft too.

You seem to be pointing a lot to IE8, and while it certainly is an improvement over IE7, some of the features you pointed out debuted on other browsers first. Privacy Mode in 2005 in Safari, and Squirrelfish hasn’t been used in production code yet, but it’s the new JavaScript interpreter in Webkit that’s been shown to be a lot faster. ON the phishing protection, I know Firefox has had that since early in the 3.0 betas, and I think it was available earlier in the form of a Google addon to Firefox and IE. Also, you comment on standards compliancy skips over the fact that WebKit dev builds got a 100/100 score on the Acid3 test a while back. Inline searching is old hat as well. Imran was correct in saying that it’s been in Firefox for ages, but it was also in Safari at least a year ago. This isn’t to say anything bad about IE8, but you seem to be pitching it a little hard.

you should at least use spell check if you aren’t going to proof read your work

@craig: Actually the myths I am talking about here are mostly not about the browser itself – instead, they address the perception of the browser in the blogosphere as a perfect new way to browse the web (even at the current early stage) that is full of innovative features introduced. I guess my summary is clear enough: we have all fallen completely in love with Google’s browser completely forgetting that the much-hyped functionality here was left almost completely unnoticed in MS newest beta browser, for example – simply because we fall in love with absolutely anything from Google.

And the thing I am trying to point out here is that it was not Google’s fault that the launch was “pompous” and “overhyped” – instead I tried to demonstrate that tech blogosphere immediately uses any chance to hype anything from Google. Am I wrong here?

If you have just said that IE8 rocks, you could have saved a lot of words. All the 10 points are not myths about Chrome and most people intelligent enough to use either Firefox or Chrome know it.

For me and mine, this all comes down to user experience and not feature bragging rights. My wife, queen of all that is non-tech, tried Chrome for ten minutes and never left. Speed, cleanliness, convenience, screen usage. This is after a year of unsuccessfully trying to move her to FF, and she couldn’t care less about sticking it to MS …

I agree with Imran, “Chrome is like the iPhone of Browsers. It might not have everything new, but it does whatever it does, very well.” It’s good to be the iPhone.

I have to agree with craig,

This entire piece is pointing out that Google’s Chrome browser did not bring about ‘new’ innovations, but, I failed to read the piece/argument/notion that ever attempted to establish that Chrome did bring ‘new’ innovations.

Way to attack Chrome for a claim that was never made in the first place …

Ummm, exactly what are you even writing about here? Anyone in the programming business will tell you that unless absolutely required, don’t reinvent the wheel. You take the best of things that already exist and conglomorate them into a package made of pure awesome. So, unless you prove on saying something productive rather than things people already know, or look up the word myth…you should do a bit more research in your next article.

@Naratanan: This is the issue I have also noticed but refrained from posting about it not to get another bunch of accusations about my conspiracy theories  I used to work on a combination of FF and IE some time back myself but then I figured out a way to stick to FF only. After Chrome was launched, I decided I could use it as an addition to FF (I like it but I still need my plugins and addons). Unfortunately, when both run simultaneously, I have problems opening at least every 3rd page – and this really looks very suspicious to me.

Dude, you have so missed the point. Its not about feature X or Y. IE is a dog to try and deliver rich, desktop like applications in. Chrome is saying to MS, if you won’t do it well then we will. It’s ultimately MS Office that they are after, they just have to make a browser powerful to run it first.

I’ve been reading a lot about browsers lately, so I was hoping to find some myths about Chrome actually debunked in this post. I immediately started reading, after the introduction, “Myth 1: separate processes for each tab”–and then discovered that this is not a myth at all. The author of this post ought to realize his own problematic use of language in respect to this point; as it now stands, the title and subtitles of this post are more mythical than anything else.

As for IE 8 Beta, it’s just a beta, and who exactly is using it now? I’d never even heard of it until a day ago.

Incidentally, right now I’m not particularly happy with any browser, (although I like many of Opera’s features), and I am especially unhappy with the way the search bar behaves in FF 3.

Has Google stated officially that these are the features (as stated above) they have innovated….. If not, then, the title of “Myth” itself does not hold appropriate…. Secondly, if listening to users and borrowing “good and usable” ideas is such a bad thing, we must then pay some royalty for the language we learn, because that can also be patented, theoretically. Another point, for the sake of putting things in perspective, so that the point of view does not reflect any bias for or against an idea, company or something, is that Google is coming out now with the browser when lot of browsing we can see as history. So, there is nothing to be envious about. Otherwise, it can be argued that these are the features (talked about in the article) that are available in the first ever version of the browser (that too Beta), whereas it took 8 reincarnations for the the maximum compared browser (Beta version) to come up with the features compared. Moreover, one feature has conveniently been overlooked (because it can’t be rejected as being Myth or half truth), that is, the speed of the Chrome browser. I hope IE 8 Beta also improves on this account….

It is company’s responsibility to communicate effectively about the features of their product. If it can not, the users won’t know by revelations… Although such comparative articles eventually inform…. I just had the objection over the undercurrent attitude while writing this article….. By the way, on the lighter side, I came to know about many a features that are available for the users in different browsers…. including Google Chrome…. Thanks so much for that….

@Imran Hussein: I want to point something here myself as well – the separate processes in Chrome don’t seem to work as they are supposed to either – I published a post about it here http://profy.com/2008/09/03/bad-news-google-chrome-crashes/ actually. The browser crashed completely without having one tab disabled as promised. And that was what I found to be disappointing: when you are promised something would be perfect, you expect it would be perfect.
I know about the inline finding in FF done long ago, but the 3.1 version only finds and highlights the 1st match while both IE 8 and Chrome highlight all the matches on the page right away. And the fact that Microsoft is late hardly really matters here - after all, Chrome is very late to the browsing game completely
And as I pointed out in the previous comment, it is not about these features not being new, it’s about bloggers overhyping them making them seem to be new.

At then end of the day it is to see whether you are providing what you have promised. MS would have promised, as they always do, but have they given us? I am so happy that these 10 MYTHS that you are talking about would have been promised by MS but never seen by the users. HAIL GOOGLE CHROME KILL IE.

@DavidKae: They are myths because of what the tech bloggers made them sound like – completely new and unprecedented. That’s my main point here.

@Jim: Let me just tell you one thing: I have not used Internet Explorer for at least a few months now and I only do it when I absolutely have to (like, they make all publishers in their ad network Atlas use it). So, honestly, I am no Microsoft fan myself and the only thing that made me do all those IE8 comparisons is that MS’ browser did not receive a fraction of attention from the blogosphere for very similar features – while Google’s ones are hyped constantly.

And I think the comparisons are quite valid given that both browsers are newbies on the market – after all, I don’t compare Chrome to IE7 here, right? It’s just that I do think that products should be evaluated based on what the products can deliver, not because of the companies behind them and the fact that Google’s fan base is so much larger than Microsoft’s one does not mean that their browser does not deserve similar attention.

By the way, I am not really paranoid about Google stealing my personal information myself (even if they keep 2% of what I type on their servers, I am not really worried as I don’t think I often type very personal things in the address bar anyway (same as you’ve mentioned). But I think that many users will have their concerns about privacy and Chrome once they realize it can be invasive.

@Paxswill: Thank you for all the corrections. Honestly, I am no browsing expert myself and I tend to only know what I use – and that is Firefox. Please, believe I am not pitching IE here intentionally – it’s just that I’ve noticed obvious similarities and collected those facts I could in addition but it is obvious that it requires more experience working with different types of browsers to build a more comprehensive picture here. Thank you for the additional information, I appreciate you sharing it.

@Madhukar: Will you need me to capture my screen to show that I currently have FF and Chrome running? In fact, this comment is written in Chrome since it handles comments perfectly fast, much faster than FF even. Do I deserve to be named “intelligent enough” if I swear that I am a loyal FF user that has just so happened to notice a few discrepancies in blogosphere coverage of the two latest browsers?

@Vince: Very happy for your wife, really. To tell you the truth, I would have gladly moved to Chrome myself for the way it handles web apps magnificently – if it had at least the most crucial of features that I now use via FF addons. But don’t I have the right to at least mention that Google has not invented anything particularly new in the feature set but simply collected the best ideas from other browsers into one magnificent package that still seems to be overhyped to me?

@Jackson: Are you kidding me? I think the entire blogosphere buzz about Chrome was about how innovative this or that feature was and only very rarely people bothered to mention that some of the features have not been invented by Google actually. Sure, Chrome deserves admiration but I think it equally deserves a scrutiny of the hype around it.

Hello Ms. Gladkova,
By reading your replies for various posts, it seems that you spoke against over-hype, over-attention given to Google’s release than Microsoft’s release by various blog spots…. In that case, the title and content should have conveyed it more clearly. That should have generated a much more fruitful discussion about the point you are trying to make over here. Currently, it looks like displacement to me. Anyway, now I understand it in a better light…

@Brian: Valid point about no need t reinvent the wheel, agree 100%. But am I really not allowed to say that every single feature in Chrome seems to be mystified to a point when it is laughable? Since when are bloggers not allowed to disagree with the generally popular opinions of the rest of the world (Google’s huge fan base in this case)?

@Svetlana: Albeit Google receives a lot of special treatment I would compare that treatment in the same groups as PC vs Mac. Some people are just die hard and as a result will be drooling over every sliver of taint that drops from their savior’s lips, while others find genuine exceptions to the norm in a products features, functionality and presentation.

What I believe gives Google such a leg up here is that they are an explosive company that isn’t always revolutionizing but certainly standing at the front line of pushing innovation. They release great products and are constantly working to make them even better. So when I first heard of Google’s the features were nice but I really looked forward to seeing something that would be friendly in every working environment and have plenty of features that are both supplied and supported by not only Google but the community.

Microsoft has been making browsers for years and it’s features are seldom considered to be anything more than another exploit or crash ‘feature’. I understand your point that the tech world is hyping over Google, but I give them solid rights based on street credibility. A couple application issues on a Beta that was actually released ahead of schedule due to a mistake in the PR dept at Google sounds pretty savvy to me.

Common user’s concerns on privacy is a null point to me but perhaps I’m jaded working as technical support having users and managers constantly contact me on a whim with other user’s passwords and personal information expecting resets and support. Unfortunately the only blame can be given to software developers who don’t do their part to cover there side of the story.

—Followup : You need an edit!
You certainly have the right to question and scrutinize. We all know the rest of the internet shows no mercy, however it appears by the construction of your article your point is towards a failure on Google’s behalf and not the over-hype of the community.
Your point there does make sense and I apologize for that misconception

how to crash chrome …
type “:%” in the address bar (without quotes)

@Nathan B.: Sorry I did not write this post up to your expectations but my understanding of a myth was a highly hyped truly revolutionary and absolutely innovative feature that in fact it is not. I am sure you will find more information about a browser you personally might find yourself happy about on some more browser-focused blog while I just publish some of my opinions on the internet trends I find to be the most interesting ones.

As for IE 8 beta being a beta, is not Chrome a beta as well? I think it is a valid reason to compare the two.

And by the way, if you are unhappy about how your search bar behaves in FF, I think you must be particularly unhappy about how the search bar behaves in Chrome.

@Ashwini: No, Google has not “stated” any of the features as official innovations. In fact, I am trying to understand what that is supposed to mean – filing a patent application for each and every one of them? But the comic book looked very much like describing the process of how they came up with tons of innovative ideas coding a browser from scratch (and from scratch was mentioned actually). But the thing I object against is that the blogosphere made it look like revolutionary when everything has already been done or proposed by users at least.

As for the conveniently overlooked speed, it’s just not a myth and I admit it is the truth. But I have seen decrease in speed with time but hopefully this is an issue to be fixed in the next releases as right now it is too early to judge it for that.

Anyway I am glad this post has been informative for you – even if controversially so. I think I could have made it clearer that I addressed the issues of overhyping features more than the features themselves but I thought the conclusion of the post was pretty clear. I’ll be sure to pay more attention to my conclusions in the future to make them 100% clear for anyone reading a post.

@Tellie: Your comment is just another evidence that people are not willing to listen to what MS has to say and willingly accept everything Google is willing to tell. Have you actually tried IE 8 yourself to know that all the features are mere promises?

A “myth” is, in short, a collectively held belief that has no basis in fact. To “debunk a myth” is to prove that it is not true. By listing 10 of Chrome’s features as myths, you are suggesting that, in your estimation, the features don’t actually exist.

@Jim: Certainly no need to apologize, I am actually quite surprised by your latest comments because this is one of the rare examples when a person in an online conversation is willing to admit that the points expressed by the other can be valid if initially argued about. Thank you, you have really made me think better of chances for a constructive dialogue online!

I do understand that Google often enjoys special treatment – even when some other company can do a job better in certain cases (like lots of features of Zoho office are better than those of Google Docs but who cares when Zoho is not Google?). And I know this is how internet functions here and nothing else should be expected, especially with the support of the similarity with Mac vs. PC communities. It’s just that I feel it will not hurt to bring such issues to light from time to time to make people notice them – even if I will have to spend half my night arguing with attacks in comments

Again, thanks a lot for your comments!

I gotta say your title is extremely misleading. None of these are “myths” about the browser, this is a list of “features that chrome has that are actually available in other browsers(oh and beta browsers too)!!” Wow, what a surprise. Yes, the browser has features that other browsers have. WOW!!!! Good job on mindlessly bashing chrome. In any reviews I have read, it has been a simple matter of pointing out the features of the browser….I’m not seeing constant glowing praise from all reviewers. Instead, I see intelligent explanation of how the browser differs from others and what features it has. No tech-minded folks are screaming at the top of their lungs that this new browser is the absolute best or would replace our daily use of firefox at the moment. You seem to think that the tech world is jumping up and down and trying to get everyone they know to use the browser and that just isn’t the case. Your reading audience is not as dumb as you seem to believe. Think about who reads this site and maybe you will realize why this post is an insult to all of us.

I don’t think that Google set out to make the revolutionary, innovative be-all and end-all of browsers. They have merely taken existing technology, cleaned up the UI and tweaked some of the code to make a more pleasant experience for the end-user. While this may have been misconstrued by the blog community, I don’t think it’s appropriate to bash Google for the actions and words of the Great Internet Unwashed.

Firefox is still my fav

fucking IE rips off of everyone soo bad its not even funny

first tabs ( ripped from firefox)
2nd privite browse ( ripped from other browsers such as safari)
seprate tab proccesses ( ripped from chrome )
and now they are even using the same engine as the other browsers!

what more can microsoft copy i mean even look at vista!

IMO microsoft is just a copying son of a bitch

Sounds like someone has a hard-on for IE.

@steven k: If IE keeps ripping off other browsers then we might get to the point when it’s standard’s compliant

Utter crap. Intentionally misleading readers does not make you clever or a decent writer. Instead you come off sounding poorly educated on the topic you should have more knowledge of. For intelligence’s sake, never, ever call yourself a tech journalist.

wow, talk about misleading. debunking a myth means taking a claim and proving it false. what you have done is merely taken a claim and said that someone else has done it. everything google has claimed they have added, just because it is ie8 does not mean its not real. and the way you cherry picked features that are only present in ie8 is clear bias. if you have such a hard-on for ie8 go use ie8, no one cares. google is simply challenging mozilla and microsoft to step up their game. and i personally think they did a great job.

I have tried both of the browsers….In spite of all that you have said, the fact remains that IE8 remains a slow, white elephant and Chrome a fast, well designed product…

delete your post asap

i have yet to try out ie 8 and inprivacy but incognito mode seems to be the real deal after some extensive testing. gonna write up something on my site soon about my findings.

This was a waste of reading. Can I debunk the myth of the electric vehicle by comparing all the similarities to a 1938 Packard? Idiotic.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 rocks and has very nice Developer Tools that Google’s Chrome lacks and won’t have anytime soon. I know that this is of no interest to the masses, but developers can help promote products (Firefox, for example).

Google turned from an innovator to a copycat. As Svetlana points out, the majority of Chrome’s features are copied from IE 8. Google’s marketing trick is to release their half-baked and already loaded with security flaws browser before the official IE 8 launch creating the impression that they’ve pioneered certain features. They also picked WebKit, raging a war against Firefox instead of partnering with them.

I tried Chrome first, it’s beautiful (except the status bar), but then I decided to try IE 8 Beta 2 after reading Walt Mossberg’s review. From stability point of view, Chrome is far from a stable browser! It seems that most of the problems are Flash/Shockwave-related, which don’t exist on Firefox 3.0, IE 7, and IE 8 running on the same machine.

Anyway, Chrome has some promising features (primarily aesthetic), but it needs a lot more work to become at par with IE & Firefox and my primary browser. After seeing IE 8, I’m not that impressed by Chrome any more. In fact, I’m very disappointed by Google now!

I hate to say it; but this was a terrible post. It did not offer any helpful information. In response to one of your later comments - Google said they built the browser from scratch because they did. It implies that unlike other browsers (let’s say IE8) it is not reworking old code. Yes they did use webkit, it would have been stupid not to use such an innovative tool.

Understand that it is a new browser having it own code source, code written specifically for Chrome, and oh yeah I’m sure they used some other code libraries – but to you that might mean “not from scratch”. Bottom line it seems you have no idea what you are talking about. Additionally I will add to the list of people who suggest you look up the work myth.

I currently use IE7, FF, and Opera and now also Chrome. Your notion that people want everyone to only use Chrome is naïve. I started using Chrome and I really like it. Still FF is my default browser. Although I think it will be Chrome once they beef it up a bit. Like the other poster Chrome is something my wife can use, FF just scares her.

@Mel: Firefox scares your wives? I’ll try not to be mean and disrespectful to your halves (who you underestimated yourselves), but how much different a bare-bones Firefox install is from Chrome? Were they off “the interweb” prior to Chrome due to their fear? And unless you’re a developer testing on different platforms, why are you using IE, Firefox, Opera, and Chrome? Why not just pick with one of them and stick with it?

Firefox 3 was a major rewrite and so is IE 8.

And lastly, the word “myth” means “a false collective belief” and I think Svetlana is using the word precisely and her post is busting the myth that Google is offering something unseen before.

@ Nikolay You comment is so ridiculous! Google copied features from IE 8?? Dude, get a life! Seriously! that browser has been in the making for 2 years. IE 8, even 7 copied features from Firefox, Opera and Safari. Get your head out of Microsoft’s behind please. IE 8 and stability can’t be used in a single sentence. Chrome hasn’t ever failed on me. IE 8 Beta 2 needs a hell lot more work to compete with any browser in the market.

The title is misleading. These 10 features are not myths, they are facts. Comparison of Chrome with IE or FF is unreasonable. Chrome is in Beta mode and simply just 5 days old. Give it some break.

@Nikolay, I do not underestimate anyone. My wife is not a techie, she is an environmental scientist. But when it comes to computers change is difficult. She uses IE7, but if she uses my computer she does not like FF. I can use whatever Brower I want for whatever reason I want. There are many reasons to have more than one but I will refrain from educating you. Just so you know I am the lead Enterprise Architect at a large company, so I do understand technology.

I think Google has done a great job. For me the clutter free interface is wonderful. Several of my FF add-ons attempt to clean up the interface, to reduce the menu buttons and hide the menu are just a few. So I’ll leave you with the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

“It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. “

@Mel: I did not know that browsers are tools for the techies - my daughter has been using both Firefox & IE 7 since she was 3 and she’s been finding her ways in both without fears or complaints. At this point, Chrome is just promising and is far from perfection, sorry! When a browser freezes your machine up for minutes without a reason and has a bunch of security flaws discovered on its first day of launch even if it boldly claims to be the safest ever… I don’t know, you tell me how perfect this is! V8 is great and WebKit is great, too, but they were not invented at Google.

Don’t expect Mozilla to sit idle and easily give up! In fact, I’m sure several people are working now on Chrome themes for Firefox. Chrome is aesthetically appealing and if they have the right to R&D (rob & duplicate), then others are entitled to do the same!

@Nikolay - Agreed. Browsers are not tools for techies. Kids are great with computers; my kids make me feel old when it comes to their ability to work their cell phones and other tech tools. However non techies, such as my wife can and do have problems with change, especially since she is not that young; although 53 is not old. The kids are far better at helping than me, as I lose patience. It seems so simple.

I have friends at all educational levels, the older they are the more they are “frightened” by technology. Just the other day I worked with my dad who is 78 he was too afraid to use my ThinkPad because using the pen seemed too hard. After just 5 minutes he said it was easier than the mouse, but he still did not want to use it, because he was afraid he’d lose it. So here is what I want to stress – Improvements make technology more accessible to everyone. The simpler it appears, the less it will be feared – yes feared. I hope Google will inspire changes to IE and FF. They are all good tools and there is room for more choices and improvement in general. The Google hype is irrelevant; everyone is sharing/buying/stealing technology the innovation is in how you piece it together to give people something different, innovative or in the case of Chrome – fast and simple.

Nikolay I appreciate your ideas and offer mine without anger. So, thanks for the dialog.

@Nikolay I feel sorry to say your comments seem to show your lack of knowledge. I just replied to your comment on FriendFeed on this post, and you’ve said that Google has copied IE 8. Do you have any idea google have been assembling a team for 6 years to build this browser? Do you even know that IE 8 has copied every feature it has from other browsers? Except for the Web slices feature which is very useless when compared to RSS Feeds. And apart from accelerators, there is NO new feature in IE since ages, what so ever. IE 8 still is horribly slow when opening a new tab, crashes without any reason randomly and doesn’t even have a download manager. If it wasn’t for Windows, IE wouldn’t be used by anyone other than fanboys, Period.

I think the author of this article appears to have lost his senses completely while writing this document. He claims every feature of chrome is a copy of IE8. Are you atleast aware that browsers like opera/Firefox even exists. I think you are totally into an IE world. Microsoft is always known for it’s “copying” attitude. Don’t call these as “myth” of chrome, rather feature. “Myths” are myths and cannot be reality.

@Imran Hussain: You’re a copycat, too - I follow your blog posts via twitter, but I’m planning to unsubscribe as you’re just an annoying echo noise.

Can you provide some proof (no conspiracy theories, please!) that Microsoft copied Google and it’s not the other way around? Svetlana and I have facts as the release dates and features are public.

Regarding your FriendFeed comment now - please, don’t “dude” me as from your mouth (or keyboard) Imran Hussain it sounds very funny. Also, don’t worry about my life, I’ve a got one already, srsly, it’s a happy one, and even parasites and badmouths like you can’t ruin my days!

I did not say that IE 8 did not borrow features from other browsers - probably it did. What I said is that it didn’t borrow from Chrome as it didn’t exist and was developed in secrecy. In contrast, IE 8’s development this time was very open and info was all over the web for years. This makes it very clear who copied who, I think!

@ Nikolay, Copycat? Care to explain you accuse?
And quote me where I said that Microsoft copied Google. You’re blind to say that Google has copied Microsoft, as IE 8 Beta 2 was just released around a week ago.
It’s pathetic that some people are so blind. And they go on writing about it as well.
And IE didn’t ‘probably’ borrow features. It copied them!
I’ve actually wasted my time replying to you, as fanboy-ism cannot be cured by anyone else rather than that fanboy himself.

You keep saying that some of the things Chrome has is not new and IE8 will have it, too. So what…at least Chrome brought it out first. And IE8 other than the beta is not released yet….so chill.

@DavidB: Not true. Chrome just like IE8 is in beta. IE8 got released first.

Svetlana, I have a minor nit to pick about “Myths”… did Google really claim “the browser is full of entirely new ideas not seen anywhere else”? I’ve only read the blog deluge, and evaluated it myself, and it’s the fastest browser I’ve ever used.

Please don’t tell me I have to read the comic book… Do you have citations for these “Myths” coming from Google? And mightn’t you clarify the “Myths” are not incorrect descriptions of features or implementation, but only “Myths” if you drink the “never before seen in any browser on the planet” Koolade.

I see other people have commented along this line…

whether we like it or not, looks like google is becoming a big player after less than a week. if you take a look at this tech geek site, it’s already the number #1 browser for visitors.

Visitor Stats
http://www.surfchrome.com
09/02/2008 to 09/07/2008

46.69% Chrome
37.05% Firefox
11.45% Internet Explorer
02.26% Safari
01.96% Opera
00.60% Mozilla

@Richard: I’m afraid you’ll really have to read the comic book to get where I got the sense that Google kind of claimed all the features were new and innovative. I guess it is the book that made all the bloggers hype the features like they are totally new when in reality they are not. Actually the majority of comments to the post were along the same line and I was talking about myths myself as features that are claimed to be entirely new and never seen before, not untrue, of course.

To Abercrombie,

Thanks for the stats. I need to point out that the site you listed http://www.surfchrome.com is about the product. So naturally it is a biased site and would attract users of Chrome, or potential users. It would be like going to the Republican convention and taking a poll on who they would vote for. It is not a neutral enough site to get a “true” reading of browsers.

If you took stats at the Apple.Com site you would probably find that the Safari browser to be have the highest and Chrome would be about 5%. PC users because no Chrome for Mac yet.

However if Google gets it right, then I expect Chrome could become the most popular browser across the board.

K

@Kevin: It will need many years and a lot of work to beat IE.

@abercrombie: It is absolutely obvious, I’ve mentioned it already that the more content you have about Chrome, the more Chrome visitors you get - it is just obvious and it is exactly what many tech bloggers forget to mention: we have published too many posts about Chrome to expect people not to arrive using Chrome to read this content.

I rather use firefox anyday over chrome or IE.

We prefer Google Chrome, because its fast and siple!

I feel IE8 is still the best,As no body knows windows better than Microsoft. See the sandboxing provided to apps running in web browser so that they are not able to acess your registry or local resources when you Run IE in high securuty mode this feature is not present in any browser.

i have tried FF3.0 you have to install a plugin called noscript to partially control Javascript.

IE 8 is definitly the best No one can challenge MS

cracker of a post, thanks Svetlana.

Thanks for taking the time to highlight some important issues.

@Adi: Interesting approach, I guess you are one of a handful of people sticking to MS browser because of a thoughtful analysis and not because you don’t like Mozilla or Google as companies.

@Bronson: Absolutely delighted you’ve enjoyed the post here

It’s bugged, and it’s bugged a lot. It’s almost official - http://www.votetheday.com/polls/googles-chrome-173/
I’m disappointed in Google - yeah, it’s beta, but remember, how Gmail beta looked like… Looks like guys had to deliver it till deadline (10th birthday, maybe), and they were obviously short of time…
It’s better than IE, but FF will live excellently long until Google fixes everything and makes enough plug-inns and versions for Mac/Linux…

You are right about these..but for now, I’m still satisfied with Chrome’s performance..^^ very efficient and fast!

From vBharat.com » 10 Myths about Google Chrome Browser…

This post is intended to demystify Google’s browser a little and show that some of the hype around it is merely about Google actually launching a browser instead of the innovative approaches implemented in the browser itself - no matter how hard Goog…

For browsing internet, speed is the most important thing. One special feature that IE never have it until now.

Doesn’t chrome (and other advanced browsers) start to sound like an OS? Is Chrome a step on the road to Google offering a browser that doesn’t rely on having a big OS under it? Just as Android is to phones, Chrome plus some stuff is to something-like a computer?

@votetheday: True, I think that’s the biggest problem with Chrome: everyone just expects that a beta from Google is something very different than a beta from some regular company, it must be stable and fully-functional. And since this is not happening to Chrome, users are very disappointed.

@salamuns: True but I have personally experienced significant speed decrease after some hours of idle operation for Chrome - so it may be fast but is growing slower with time for now, hope it will be fixed eventually.

@todayslearner: Can’t agree at all, it is far from an OS, it may be an environment for internet applications but not an OS. After all, do you expect the browser to do all the things an OS does like processing fonts?

I cant help but agree with you, it really does look like Google looked at IE8 & pressed Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.

But I didnt realise it was THAT bad.

@Dann Smith: Well, this can be somewhat of an exaggeration since IE8 was demonstrated only a few days earlier than Chrome but the fact that Google listened to what users demanded of browsers in various discussions (probably on Mozilla’s and Microsoft’s sites as well) is quite obvious.

i keep learning about more and more little advantages and features with Chrome, with privacy, for example; now if only they would take care of it’s cookie management glitches…

@film fan: Glad you find pleasant surprises in Chrome but I think you are underestimating the glitches Google still has to fix before Chrome becomes a truly reliable browser.

This is a great idea. I don’t think that Chrome is nearly ready to by my “Full Time” browser, but it is pretty fast on some sites/services. I like the idea of being able to use Firefox for most stuff, but use Chrome as a specialized application for certain web services.
I don’t see Chrome as a replacement, rather a sidekick.

@WebTrafficROI: I used to think the same way and tried to use both Chrome and Firefox - but for different purposes. But unfortunately eventually both browsers started to misbehave as probably they are not all that willing to be working simultaneously on the same machine. So I have decided to wait a bit for a next version with some security fixes and hopefully some bugs taken care of as well.

My fav thing about Chrome is the way it intelligently loads pages. The content of the page is treated as high priority so it’s the first thing that pops up. The ads transition in slowly which is very neat

@hipdirectory: True, this is definitely a very welcomed approach to loading pages and something that really makes Chrome an appealing browser.

it’s funny, the more i use Chrome (for windows), the more unstable it seems to get… crashes a lot more, can’t handle sites with flash, hangs every time i close a tab… all that to say, i’m switching back to Firefox

@movie fan: Same problem here, that’s why I’m entirely back to Firefox to wait a few months for a stable Chrome version.

This page was rather misleading, it didn’t debunk any “myths” about Google’s Chrome. Your article here only points out that other browsers, mostly ones in beta, have some of the same features…

I’m just shocked this wasn’t in the list: “All browsers before Google’s Chrome have had address bars, so clearly, they stole the idea. Although you’ll be pleased to hear IE8 will eventually have a better one.”

Interesting…but I still feel that in the end, I will be using Chrome because bugs will be fixed and features will keep being added (but hopefully not to replace speed).

I not completely sure why Chrome hasn’t been updated for so long, since many features appear to be fixed in developer builds…especially fixes such as the scroll up bug.
See here

digg.com/software/Google_Chrome_68

@Rion: Actually this post was intended mostly to debunk the myths created by Google hype machine and the blogosphere - as if Google invented the wheel with Chrome when in reality it obviously did not.

@PaulusDev: Actually same here - I will be just happy to use Chrome myself once the bugs are fixed and it is more robust in terms of security and reliability. And I think I have seen the latest update earlier this week so it’s not a bad speed for rolling out updates to users, I think.

respect

Chrome has a few features under the hood which will hopefully push other browsers to start addressing the fact that web applications need a better platform. Embedding the new Javascript V8 engine and Google Gears is a great idea for Google.

-Andrew

Andrew, this is a good approach to Chrome as the browser that could teach the big players in the browsing game some innovative things. Of course for everyone it will be better to simply have yet another Firefox update than completely migrate to another browser.

GOOGLE FTW!!!!!!!!!!

If you see a turtle on a fence post, he has had some help. imho

Even the Chrome analysis is biased. For nearly every point you compare Chrome to the *beta* IE8 version. In reality, most Chrome features have been available in standard versions of Opera and Safari for some time now. They ripped off the Address Bar above tabs and Quick Links from Opera. Search highlighting and private browsing is also available in both Safari and Opera.

Hey, if you work for google, why don’t you check the current stock price.

I hesitate to use even upgraded versions of Chrome, since my last experience using it (first version) left my computer compromised; have they fixed the security issues beyond all doubt?

movie fan: I’m afraid that the doubts will be here at the very least until the beta tag is located near the Chrome name.