Google Chrome
I’m writing this post from the Beta version of Google’s stab at a web browser – Google Chrome. So far it seems pretty nice. Key points for/against:
- Chrome uses a unique model for its tabs. Each tab runs in an entirely new process (where in other browsers they may run in a new thread). This has many interesting ramifications, such as:
- Less memory leaks – when you close a tab, any dead memory is wiped with it.
- Greater stability – if one tab “crashes”, just close it – the rest of the browser soldiers on without problems, similar to closing a process within Windows.
- Greater security – the individual tab processes can be run at a tighter security level than the overall browser process, to help keep malware at bay.
- Chrome has introduced a new JavaScript engine called V8 – developed from scratch to be more conducive to large-scale JS applications. This thing is fast. Seriously. I ran Chrome and Firefox 2 through the Sunspider benchmark, and Chrome came out on top, almost 10 times faster. Full details here: chrome-js
- On the downside, a new browser is always going to be distinctly lacking in extensions. I’m already missing the AdBlock Plus I’ve grown accustomed to on Firefox. However the browser is open-source so we’re likely to see these sorts of things appear in no time.
Get it here! Definitely worth a look, seems to have a lot of potential.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Intarwebs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tom is a 23 year-old software engineer currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. Click