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Comment by IanDrake | Hacker News Reader

I can see why Chrome is loosing users. They're really close to loosing me now too. The rapid updates have had some strange quality control issues and being one version behind on Flash can be a pain.

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I stopped using Chrome because I was never super excited about depending on Google for yet another crucial service, and Firefox seems to have gotten better lately (perhaps the competition has invigorated them).

I know that probably sounds paranoid, but at the end of the day, I would just rather rely on a nonprofit organization or OSS project for anything important, rather than a for-profit company... as long as the quality is comparable.

If you use Chromium then you'll be using an open-source browser. Chrome gets the bulk of its source code from Chromium, but there are some parts they can't include in the open-source distribution due to licensing restrictions.

However, that's a compromise, and it would be much nicer if it were open-source from the start.

I don't think there's a need to discuss it as some kind of frightening black box that nobody's too sure about, either. As far as is known, I believe Chrome - Chromium == Branding, MP3 codecs, Pepperflash, Foxit PDF reading libs. With flash, they have some kind of special arrangement with Adobe; with the other three, it seems like it amounts to licensing bullshit that's keeping their hands tied.

There used to be that RLZ usage tracking thingy, but IIRC it got taken out. I'm sure there's other stuff like auto-update and usage statistics-gathering components added to the Chrome build as well.

If I missed anything, please do point it out.

By the way, my goal isn't to warm people up to the proprietary Chrome build. My point is more to make people feel less like they're missing out by ditching it for the freer Chromium.

It definitely has to be acknowledged that from a security perspective, it must be assumed that Chrome contains back doors and "innocently neglected" security vulnerabilities for big brother in all his various incarnations.

So use Chromium, damnit!

>It definitely has to be acknowledged that from a security perspective, it must be assumed that Chrome contains back doors and "innocently neglected" security vulnerabilities for big brother in all his various incarnations.

What?

I'm guessing they mean closed-source software should be presumed compromised.

Then that's tinfoil hattery and doesn't really seem like it adds to the discussion.

Do you know if "Google Chrome Helper" is part of Chromium? It seems like it, but I couldn't find clear information either way.

In any case, Google Chrome Helper makes me trust Chrome even less. Your comment made me curious about it, and it turns out that once activated, it's perpetually open in the background, often maxing out the processor, and it can't be quit without uninstalling Chrome. Supposedly it's related to Google Cloud Print and/or Flash, but I had both disabled and the above was still true.

Makes the caution about potential backdoors/vulnerabilities seem that much more reasonable.

Loose = opposite of tight. Lose = opposite of win. Chrome is losing users and losing you.

I'm sure you meant well, but I know the difference...it was just a typo (or two).

Not to go too far off topic, but, one of the nicer elements of HN is its focus on literate conversation. I've found, that in my own writing, I too frequently misuse to/too, where/were, lose/loose - so communicating with colleagues and friends that expect me to hold my conversation to a higher standard then elsewhere on the net is appreciated.

It has the bonus effect of improving the literacy of my written conversation when I'm not on HN as well.

On at least one occasion you also mixed up then/than.

>so communicating with colleagues and friends that expect me to hold my conversation to a higher standard then elsewhere on the net is appreciated.

Thank You. :-)

Agreed, I actually appreciate the grammar correction (to an extend) when someone corrects me, since I usually learn about something I was doing wrong.

However, it is annoying to read everyone else getting corrected. I'm not sure how to solve that, maybe an email? But that seems to be more effort than it is worth for the person correcting.

P.S. Since it's always an issue: Your email needs to be in the 'about' field for others to see it. If you want others on HN to be able to contact you please check it now.

Since you appreciate it: it is 'to an extent'. 'extend' is a verb, 'extent' a noun. And both the original case and this one aren't about grammar, but about spelling :-)

One time is a typo, both times very probably means you didn't know the difference. Not that I care one way or the other since I automatically correct bad grammar as I read, but there are those here that feel it necessary to bring it to everyone's attention.

I completely agree. The latest version especially has rendered the browser nearly unusable for me (among many other things, pages just don't load, and the browser freezes constantly).

Seems a bit serious... I'm guessing they will resolve it soon?

Are you using the Chrome beta or dev channel? Or are these problems with the stable channel?

On Mac Chrome is working fine, but on Windows it seems to be completely screwed up these days. If you open multiple youtube windows, for example, it screws up pretty much every time you switch between windows - you have to minimize the window and uniconify it for it to render properly. This is pretty basic stuff.

Could be related to the lack of Google employees on Windows.

I think you're right. I mostly use OSX these days, but I also test my stuff on Windows a lot. Virtualbox makes it easy.

Chrome 22 on Ubuntu is garbage

Care to elaborate on that? I use Chrome on Ubuntu and have not noticed any problems since the update a week ago.

Standard release I'm fairly sure. Version 22.0.1229.79 m

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