Not quite - you can choose which search engine to use. I use scroogle (Google without the bias).

Chrome successfully imported all the search engines I use from Firefox, arranged all my favourites in the same order as in Firefox, and it really is very fast.

However, in using it, you grant Google an irrevocable, perpetual licence to use in any way they see fit, any copyrighted material to which you own the rights, and that you transmit using the chrome browser.

See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/google_chrome_eula_sucks/ for more details.

Although quite pleasant to use, it's feels like a hybrid of Opera and Firefox.

I tried it and I still prefer Mozilla. No F11 that I could find and not much customization options. Couldn't tell any difference in speed. Much ado about nothing for me.

Ha ha ha, silly google. I don't even have to look at the Eula and I can guess that it is pretty much completely ineffective in the EU. Idiots. These superpower companies such as Microsoft and Google know they can pretty much do whatever they like.

The "One box for everything" is ingenious and works amazingly well.

The viewable area for pages is bigger than IE and Firefox. I never browse in full screen so this is good for me.

It starts faster than IE and Firefox on my system.

My fairly complex javascript / Flash based training interface ran on it out of the box which blows my mind given my experience with developing for Firefox.

They appear to be appealing heavily to developers at this point. They know we'll push the browser on everyone if it is a solid development platform, which it appears to be even in 1st beta.

Haven't checked out the article about the EULA yet...

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080903-google-on-chrome-eula-controversy-our-bad-well-change-it.html

Ha! People make such a big deal over the EULA but I'll bet they've all agreed to much worse without realizing it... unless they are going to claim they've read every single thing they've clicked "Agree" on over the years...

Ben

Its pretty darn fast and not so off topic as GOOGLE will be getting into CORPORATE VIDEO solutions if you look at the business applications that will be available soon.

The sleeper has awakened

Cheers

Chrome's "Omnibar" can also access all keystrokes a user types, and Google will store some of this information along with IP addresses.

Big Brother is watching:



Thanks, I think I'll pass on this one.

Simply an unacceptable security risk, especially on a machine that handles credit card numbers and other personal information for my clients.

This was taken from the link two? posts above:

It's worth noting that the EULA is largely unenforceable because the source code of Chrome is distributed under an open license. Users could simply download the source code, compile it themselves, and use it without having to agree to Google's EULA. The terms of the BSD license under which the source code is distributed are highly permissive and impose virtually no conditions or requirements on end users.

j razz

Yes, via the www.arsetechnica.com link.

So all I need to do is to go find the Chrome source code, go find the right compilers and linkers, pull the right libraries, install it all, read up on the compiler syntax, make a binary, test, and repeat for each frequent security update.

I think I'll stick with Firefox where I can prevent Flash on inactive tabs from slowing my machine to a crawl (Chrome can't do this, it's fast but slogs with Flash even on tabs you are not watching).

I just installed it today and right off the bat I didn't like it. It wouldn't import all my favorites...oh wait, "bookmarks." It's as though it only liked the most recently used ones. I tried to re-import but nothing. And as noted above the tweak options are a joke.

@Coursedesign
I think I'll stick with Firefox where I can prevent Flash on inactive tabs from slowing my machine to a crawl
======================
How do you do it in Firefox?

I've got 5 of these running full screen (2560x1600) in background tabs in Chrome and my CPU is 18%. If I bring one of them to foreground my CPU goes up to 33% but it still plays smooth. Sounds like hell when you've got 5 of these running heheh...

http://www.rockband.com/

But definitely not hogging CPU in background tabs. All the chrome processes are listed as using 0% CPU.

Google as Big Brother...? Are you sure you have read that book?

If anything it's the ability to find / share information so easily (with the help of industry leaders like Google) that's prevented/preventing Big Brother from emerging thus far.

Ben

Addict,

Glad you've got a good machine! What are your specs?

I got Flashblock to let me choose when to have stuff blaring after I do an Open in New Tab, which I do a lot. For me it's not a performance issue, rather a practical.

It is not Google's listing of public information I'm concerned about.

I have a legal obligation to protect my clients' information. Having Google record every keystroke may mean nothing to you, but to me it is a security risk that could cost me my business.

" I have a legal obligation to protect my clients' information" I can not believe that google would think this would not be a big issue. What governments would permit this on their pcs? What research firms?

update from Google! ;-)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Google has rescinded an article of the user agreement for its new browser, Chrome, released on Tuesday.

The initial agreement claimed rights over "any Content which you submit, post or display on or through" the browser.

Google reworded the agreement on Wednesday, leaving those rights in the hands of Chrome's users.

A spokesperson for Google said its user agreements were re-used and the initial claim was an oversight.

The initial End User Licence Agreement (EULA) claimed "a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services."

Rebecca Ward, senior product counsel for Google Chrome, said the problem arose because Google re-uses swathes of its Universal Terms of Service across all its offerings "in order to keep things simple for our users".

"Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don't apply well to the use of that product," she said.

The amended article instead suggests that users "retain copyright and any other rights" that they already hold on the content they submit or display using the browser.

The situation echoes last year's controversy surrounding the EULA for Google Docs, its online word processing and spreadsheet programs. Google initially claimed similarly wide-ranging rights, but eventually reworded the agreement in response to users' concerns. "

CD,

But doesn't it only record keystrokes in the omnibar? Why would you be typing credit card numbers there?

Besides...

"Turning off the auto-suggest feature means that Google will neither get nor store this information. One can also select a search provider other than Google as their default to avoid having their search queries stored by Google."

I updated my system specs in my profile - basically a Q6600 / 4GB RAM / GF8800.

But doesn't it only record keystrokes in the omnibar?

I don't know.

And I have to know.

Why would they scan only the omnibar info?

Google usually brags about how they can serve you better the more they know about you, and they serve ads based on what's on the pages you view.

The question is not, why would they only.... the question is, why are they storing keystrokes in the first place? Google has always recorded search querys and kept them paired up with your IP and/or some kind of UID since the very beginning. This data is of course incredibly valuable to improving the search engine results and the value of their ad placement service. It can also be mined for marketing data which can be sold to other companies for cash.

Now they have Google suggest which communicates in realtime so each keystroke triggers a new search query (you don't have to hit ENTER). So now obviously they are recording the keystrokes since you could look at the log and figure out the sequence of keys being pressed anyway. This data is stored just like before and is subject to being sold to other companies in some form (probably not the raw keystroke data).

Now they have Google omnibar which is a combination of Google suggest and other things. Same deal, each keystroke generates a new query on the google database(s), and is therefore logged just like before.

So if you didn't like Google before... their new browser isn't going to change anything.

Ben

I like Google search a lot.

And I love Google Desktop, great time saver (although my HP xw8600 workstation came with a Microsoft equivalent installed, in XP SP3 no less, apparently many people think that this feature is only available in Vista).

But I don't use Google's Shared Desktop feature where they store the index on their servers....

The omnibar only stores keystrokes if you are using Googleas the default search engine. I use Scroogle (check out www.scroogle.org).

But I'm sticking with Firefox as I use a number of plugins to make my browsing more secure - No Script (prevents unwanted scripts from executing), Ref Control (ensures no page know where I've come from), and Tor Button (for when I want true anonymity).

Until Chrome can give me the control I want, I won't be using it.

"Until Chrome can give me the control I want, I won't be using it."

Well, it is, after all, the first beta release. It's certainly promising, but certainly not there yet. It is really fast, I'll give it that.

My only real issue with it so far is that it won't import all my bookmarks. I do have about 3,300 of them, so maybe that's the problem.