Google ownz your browsing

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by AntonyF, Sep 2, 2008.

  1. Rarewolf

    Rarewolf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I hate it when search engines or browsers try to hijack your system. If I want to use them I'll go find them thankyou.

    I tend to type Google into MSN search half the time but there you go!
     
  2. Charlie Kelly

    Charlie Kelly Commodore Commodore

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    Hadn't heard of this, sounds interesting. I like the idea of trying to improve all web browsers through making their own.

    Although some of their 'new' features are already available in IE8 Beta 2. IE8 finally has crash recovery and limits most crashes to the individual tab. All tabs are also opened in separate processes. Its URL bar works in a similar way to Chrome, it'll search through your history and favourites and so if you type in 'Car' it'll come up with all the relevant pages. Also IE8 now displays recently closed tabs when you open a new one, again similar to Chrome (although it doesn't show the most visited web pages), and it has it's own privacy option called inprivate browsing that works the same way as Chrome.

    I don't use Firefox 3 very much but I suspect that many of these features I've listed are there as well. This isn't a criticism of Chrome though (I haven't even used the browser yet), I just wanted to point out that Google hasn't done all these first (regardless if they do them better).

    Charlie
     
  3. Charlie Kelly

    Charlie Kelly Commodore Commodore

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    I think you're thinking of the BBC iPlayer.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayer

    Charlie
     
  4. Brian

    Brian Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Has anyone tried Safari? It installed with my last QT update, but I haven't really used it, beyond finding that the bookmark interface for imported IE favorites is too cumbersome.
     
  5. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    Have you guys seen some of the Google offices? :p :D
     
  6. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Which isn't really the BBC's media player - Sky, BBC and (I think C4) all use the same underlying application for the media players - developed by a company called Kontiki.
     
  7. davortech

    davortech Ensign Newbie

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    I use Safari on my Mac and I just love it. It's a great fast browser and it has all web standards supported. I'm looking forward to trying out Google's Chrome as it is not yet available in version for OS X. Btw, I'm new on here, nice to meet you everyone :)
     
  8. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    How can Google "take over" anything when their browser is open source? At worst, everyone ignores it. At best, competing browsers integrate Chrome's good ideas.

    Since keeping each tab in a separate process is kind of a no-brainer, I am more interested in their approach to JavaScript. The hidden class concept and sticking JS within a VM are both interesting ideas. I know that the thing that most often causes me trouble is misbehaving JavaScript. Always lagging my pages, stealing precious clock cycles.

    I will probably wait until Chrome is more mature before I consider jumping aboard, but the ideas put forth are pretty interesting.
     
  9. Alaedhros

    Alaedhros Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The same way that Firefox gained a respectable usage share of the browser market, or LAMP took over the server market--by being better than the competition.

    Also, Google wants competing browsers to integrate their ideas. They'd be pleased as punch if IE has a Javascript engine as fast as Chrome's and a way to launch web apps like local apps.

    I agree, the ideas are quite intriguing, and it seems to me like they would go a long way toward making a browser that would perform well on the web today. Should be interesting to see how Firefox responds.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2008
  10. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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  11. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Section 11 is beginning to sound like Section 31. :lol:

    As for Google, looks like they do own a lot of things:

    The Omnibox
     
  12. drasche

    drasche Captain Captain

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    MS was forced to release special versions of Windows, without the mediaplayer. It was called Windows XP N, I believe.

    Google. The hype. That's two powerful weapons on the internet. Being opensource is an advantage. But in the present case, it will help all browsers, as it is what Google hopes. You can add the element of surprise since there were only some rumors about a gBrowser and then Chrome is popping out of the blue.

    It seems to work since early and sketchy reports indicate Chrome has taken a 1% share on the web browsers market. That's very big, but it's still too early to make a bet. The hype worked, that's for sure.
     
  13. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Google already collects information when you use their search engine or any of their applications. Why should it surprise anyone that their browser, which queries their search engine for suggestions, also collects information?

    And, of course, it can be disabled.

    If people think Google's data mining is evil, by all means, don't use their stuff.
     
  14. anti-matter

    anti-matter Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Since Google makes revenue through advertising I wonder if Chrome will feature 'Adblock' like FF? I dunno...just asking.
     
  15. USS KG5

    USS KG5 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That is interesting - of course Goggle's ads are somewhat different and tend to be returned inside search results, but would blocking other people's be seen as plopping on their own doorstep??
     
  16. Neroon

    Neroon Mod of Balance Moderator

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    I wondered about this when I read on the BBC web site about the license text being revised: Link.
     
  17. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    If someone writes a plugin to block ads, I strongly doubt Google would attempt to break compatibility with it. Besides that, the browser is open source, so all someone would have to do is fork the code, remove the AdBlock breakage, and everyone gets on with life as usual.

    Your search patterns are much more valuable to Google than some lost ad revenue.
     
  18. darkshadow0001

    darkshadow0001 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, I looked at the design of their new web browser and I wasn't impressed. While I'm a huge fan of the Google search engine and G-Mail, Chrome just sucks. I'll stick with IE7, thank you very much.
     
  19. anti-matter

    anti-matter Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Our desk top is about is about 6 years old and due to upgraded before the end of the year...then I give chrome a trial run.
     
  20. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Eh. It's an OK browser.

    No mouse gestures.

    I think I'll stick with Opera.