Google Chrome 2.0 - Fast but lacking features | Hacker News Reader

Google Chrome 2.0 - Fast but lacking features

blogs.zdnet.com

12 pointssoundsop14 comments

"For Mac and Linux users, there’s still no Google Chrome for you."

You can grab the latest nighly build for OS X here: http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/sub-rel-mac/

It works pretty well and the UI is great. However, there are still some features missing, like the ability to delete bookmarks.

And have a look at the Stainless browser (OS X). A project originally inspired by Chrome.

http://www.stainlessapp.com/

I love the multiple browsing sessions feature (great for testing).

> However, there are still some features missing, like the ability to delete bookmarks.

shouldn't bookmarks be implemented at the level of js scripted extensions?

I follow the development of Mac Chrome Pretty Closely. Here is a list of what works and what doesn't as of build 16630. Keeping track of this at http://www.manu-j.com/blog/download-updated-native-google-ch...

What Works

    * Almost all websites 
    * Bookmark pages
    * Most visited sites
    * Open link in new tab
    * Open new tabs
    * Omnibox
    * Back, Forward, Reload
    * Open link in new window
    * Drag a tab to make a window
    * Launch new tab
    * Cut, Copy, Paste
    * Keyboard shortcuts
    * about:version, about:dns, about:crash, about:histograms
    * Find in page
    * History with search
    * Form Fill
    * Delete Thumbnail in New Tab Page
    * Window Positions Remembered
    * View Source  with synatx highlighting and clickable links

What Doesn’t Work

    * Open link in new tab Rev 13759
    * Plugins (No flash -> No youtube)
    * History Rev 16050
    * Omnibox Rev 13759
    * Bookmarks Bar
    * Find Rev 16050
    * Print
    * about:network, about:memory
    * Web Inspector
    * Input methods such as Kotoeri (Japanese)
    * Preferences (Partial implementation)
    * Full Screen Browsin

I have been using Google Chrome on Linux since about a month ago. I installed it so I could test JavaScript programming with it as well. As Google Chrome was still a very work-in-progress (it still is though has improved a lot) at the time I also built a WebKit nightly to test JavaScript with a WebKit process. Since about two weeks ago I have stopped using the WebKit standalone process to test things as Google Chrome is not crashing and considering its roughness it is working well enough for testing JavaScript at least. ;-)

It is super important to have Google Chrome supported on Linux as well as it is going to make it all the more cross-platform and help with getting WebKit quality installs everywhere so we all can share some common ground.

That said, when I am on Windows, Google Chrome is my preferred browser. Despite being unfinished, the Linux version is coming along nicely and it's always open right beside Firefox for me. Opera never enjoyed that status for me however many features it came with. As a matter of fact, programming JavaScript with Opera has been a little awkward when comparing the same code that works OK with Firefox and WebKit and does not quite work with Opera.

I appreciate the Linux version, Google! Thanks! :-)

I've been using Chrome almost exclusively for about 3 months now. I do miss the rich selection of Firefox extensions, but the upside is that the core functionality feels so fast and reliable that my overall browsing experience is much better. And I'm using the Dev track, so 'fast and reliable' includes the expected hiccups you encounter with a weekly development build.

Yes, it's imperfect (#1 annoyance: too few configuration options), and yes I think they need to do more to speed up the extension development. But I do love the fact that a page can blow up or die without taking the whole browser down, and that load/new incidence times are close to zero.

How is comparing Google Chrome 2, Safari 4 beta, and Firefox 3.0.10 fair? Firefox 3.5 or 3.6 should have been tested instead.

I can not use Chrome as my browser until they get with the times and include mouse gestures.

>"For Mac and Linux users, there’s still no Google Chrome for you."

And this is when I stopped reading. If Google was truly committed to opensource they'd make a Linux version.

(crosses arms) I'm not talking to you, daddy. If you really loved me you'd get me a pony. (stomps foot) -- Veruca Salt

http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/chromium-rel-li...

Also, making Chromium on Linux more efficient is a Google Summer of Code 2009 project: http://socghop.appspot.com/student_project/show/google/gsoc2...

A quick look-around and I find that they're working on it.

http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/chromium-rel-li...

I'm sure you could help out. I mean, if you are truly committed to open source.

And in fact they do: http://www.shivaranjan.com/2009/05/17/linux-how-to-install-c...

There are also daily tarballs if you don't use Debian/Ubuntu or feel like doing it yourself.

I don't think the phrase "truly committed to open source" means anything in the context of a company as large as Google. The Chromium team may be hardcore about it and the AdWords people may shudder at the thought. Big companies are all schitzophrenic. (And anyways, "open source" != Linux.)

You stopped reading at the last line of the article? Well, that's not bad.

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