Defining Chaos In Order

Like some million others out there, I watched the Chrome OS Open Source presentation on several of youtube’s movies, and have mixed feelings about its use in todays world. For reference, here are some interesting videos you might want to look into.

• Chrome OS Open Source Project Announcement (1h19m)
• Google Chrome OS UI Concept Video (1m55s)
• What Is Google Chrome OS? (3m21s)

There’s a wide variety of design documentation out in the open for you to look into, as well as the source code itself, for you to evaluate. There’s also a developer build Virtual Machine for VMware’s Player, that you can download and boot up – to get the look ‘n feel right. If you want to run it in VMware’s Server, you’ll need to convert the machine first.

Chrome OS is counting on the following events to further expand:

• More Netbooks are being sold and used, every day
• More users are migrating to “the cloud“, using webapplications that store all your data on outside servers (facebook, youtube, flickr, …)
• Phones gaining computer capabilities, and laptops migrating more to phones

Trends in the industry leading to the Chrome OS

In Chrome OS: every application is a web application. That’s the power, and the weakness of Chrome OS. While there’s a trend of moving all applications towards the web, and I’m no big fan of it. There are the obvious advantages (easier administration, one place for storage, backups …), and the obvious disadvantages (security, lack of ownership, lack of browser capabilities, …). You’ll have your standpoint on this, I’m sure – this is just how I feel.

When is Google OS useful to you? When you donate all your privacy concerns to Google, and “migrate” to “the cloud” – using all Google Applications that run in your webbrowser. GMail, Google Docs, Wave, … are all webapplications that run great in a  browser, and it’s a focus of Google – but it’s not a focus of 95% of all the other software being developed. You’re limited with Chrome OS in ways you’ll only realize as soon as you use it. And then you’ll switch back.

Matti Tech chrome, chromeos, google

I stumbled upon this marvelous creation, allowing you to run both Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), Mozilla Firefox 2 (FF2), Mozilla Firefox 3 (FF3), Google’s Chrome (1), Opera & Apple’s Safari on one computer. It requires you to visit a website, from where you can launch these applications. It’s brilliantly simple.

Check it out: http://www.xenocode.com/browsers/

It sure beats having to run a Virtual PC with several seperate images (XP + IE6, XP + IE7, XP + IE8). If you want to try out different operating systems (XP or Vista), you should still revert to virtualising your OS (try Virtual PC + premade OS images by Microsoft). Now to find a solution for running IE5.5 alongside it! ;-)

Matti Webdevelopment browsers, chrome, firefox, ie6, ie7, ie8

According to a post on ArsTechnica.com, it seems Google is ready to release its new browser to the world, by setting it as a default browser on new computers.

Google, meanwhile, is exploring its distribution options and examining the various ways it might improve its market share. “We will probably do distribution deals,” Pinchai told The Times. “We could work with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and have them ship computers with Chrome preinstalled.”

By preinstalling the browser on new computers, you’ll reach a relativily small percentage of internet users out there. It might replace IE for some users, but those who are scared of changes (and that’s just about every PC user with little or no knowledge of IT) will return to Internet Explorer – their safehaven, the software they know and have used for several years. It’s proven to work – why would they switch to something else?

Those people that use FireFox (a 20% marketshare at the moment), have made the step from Internet Explorer to try the new browser. They are the ones that _do_ like change, so they switched. That 20% marketshare is probably the only share that’ll considder using Google’s Chrome. 

By further promoting it, the Chrome browser will only steal marketshare of the “alternative” browsers – FireFox, Safari, Opera, … – not the mainstream Internet Explorer users causing more diversity.

Since the launch of IE3 in 1996 to today, Microsoft has never had to compete for browser share against a company as large and powerful as itself. Once Chrome launches, that’s going to change; Google has the money and the expertise to match Microsoft dollar-for-dollar and feature-for-feature. If both companies stay on track, 2009 may be the year we finally test John Curran’s hypothesis, both in the UK and around the world.

I’m curious to see how that will go. If spending money only means getting the browser preinstalled, then the war will still be won by IE. If it means tearing down IE’s reputation through public ads, commercials and likes – to get to the “common” man, who’s afraid of change – it might tilt the other way around.

If I look at my immediate surroundings, those users that still used Internet Explorer a few months ago, are using it now. Those that had FireFox/Safari/Opera, made the switch to Chrome.

I was ones a FireFox user. I switched to Chrome.

Matti Webdevelopment browser, chrome, google, IE

Here’s something I actually missed the first time, straight from the EULA for Google’s Chrome.

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google 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. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

Scary …

Some of these things make sense, after all, a browser has to submit data in order to get any result. The scary part is where “ … you give Google 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.”

Say What?! This has got to be the most effective way of obtaining browsing behaviour, in order to adapt your advertising market to it.

Matti Privacy chrome, eula, google

This’ll probably remain the hype of the month, so let’s discuss Google’s browser in short: Chrome (here’s a fun comic book explanation of how chrome works).

Some things to note, right of the start.

• Install works flawlessly
• Bookmarks & Saved passwords are imported from Firefox & are shown in the exact same way as you arranged them in Firefox, from the ones you dragged to your bookmark-toolbar, to the ones that remained in the bookmark-toolmenu.
• It’s fast. Seriously, it’s very fast. If you double-click the icon, the browser has started 0.5 seconds later. That beats Firefox’ time of 3s easily.
• Page rendering; again, fast. And remarkebly faster than IE or Firefox.
• Searching: you’re not limited to just Google search (as some critics may have suggested). In fact, when first starting the browser you’re asked if you want to use Google as your default search-engine, or another search-engine.

It’s a very solid browser for a beta product, then again: Gmail is a very solid mail-solution for a beta. The interface is clean, works intuitive, adapts easily and is lightning fast.

Also good to note is that it uses nearly exactly the same shortcuts as firefox – so at this point I’d like to describe it as a “Firefox clone, but 6x faster”. In fact, it’s only using 40MB of RAM at this point, with 4 tabs open. Where Firefox is at 77MB, with the same tabs (granted; it has some extensions installed). I wonder what it’ll do in the long run, firefox had the nasty habbit of climbing up to 150MB of RAM when used for several hours.

Speaking of which … I wonder how long it’ll take before the good firefox extensions (WebDeveloper, Browser Agent Switcher, AdBlock, …) are ported to Chrome – after all, it is open source …

The extension missed most is definitely AdBlock. Would Google ever allow it? It sort of cuts in on their own business model, of selling advertising space.

*Edit; it seems Wordpress has its issues with Chrome; normal paragraphs aren’t inserted when typing a new article and hitting “enter”. In fact, it’s converted to < divs> instead of < p>’s.

Matti Webdevelopment chrome, google