Google Chrome

[SwitchBladeUK]

I've been using it for a few days now and in my opinion, it's better than Firefox.

The browser itself is very minimalistic, giving you alot of web page space.
Also you can Google search anything by typing it into the address bar.
Another cool thing is when you open a new tab Chrome displays your most viewed web pages.

Try it out, can always go back to Firefox if you don't like it.

http://http://www.google.co.uk/chrome

[SwitchBladeUK]

Yeah that's only downside, but it's new, plug-ins will come.

[Zofo]

My firefox opens instantly, how could chrome be faster than that.  Couple that with the fact that i would lose all my plugins from ff.  Its a no brainer for me, cheers but no thanks

[stoned_llama]

My firefox opens instantly, how could chrome be faster than that.  Couple that with the fact that i would lose all my plugins from ff.  Its a no brainer for me, cheers but no thanks

How do you manage that Zofo? For me, with <5 extensions, Firefox (3.0. opens pretty slowly, certainly 1.5s or more. Google Chrome definately opens faster for me (.5s easy).

I have both installed on my PC atm - I'd switch to Google Chrome completely/instantly I think if there was a way to synch up my bookmarks between my various OSs and PCs. (Currently I use Foxmarks/Xmarks to synch my Firefox bookmarks on various PCs/Firefox isntalls and between my Linux and Windows installs).

For me:
Google Chrome is faster. It loads faster, but more importantly, it renders and deals with Javascript much faster.
Google Chrome is lighter/snappier. Might not seem different to my first point, but it kinda is... Google Chrome feels 'lightweight' and everything happens 'as soon as you click' and so on. Firefox, back in the day, used to be thay way - being light and snappy was the reason the pre-Firefox project branched from the Mozilla/Netscape suit - and the reason I started using it. But now Chrome is better in this department.
Google Chome is pretty. Yeah. Especially if you're in to 'less is more' minimalist aesthetics, Google Chome wins.
Firefox has better plugin support, and better plugins. Probably the #1 reason for not switching. If it wasn't for Proxomitron (a local 'filtering' proxy, than can do the job of NoScript and Adblock plus and others...) I couldn't use Google Chome at all. The plugin system is in development for Google Chrome, so it's just a question of time 'till all the popular Firefox/ plugins are effectivly duplicated.

To sum up, Firefox is reliable, polished, experienced. Yeah, pretty much, Firefox knows what people have wanted in a browser the last few years, and delivered it well. It's grown popular and set most of the browser standards over it's lifetime. It's pretty much, with its variety of extensions, feature complete for almost anyone who needs a webbrowser.
However, it just doesn't feel like it used to in the early days of Phoenix & Firebird.
It might be a little melodramatic to suggest Google Chrome will rise from Firefox's ashes, stripping everything down and building it all back up again on a new, faster, slicker, sleeker codebase, but it'd be somewhat fitting and ironic. Now, if only the Chromium project would hurry up and produce something as good for Linux...

[Carth]

Google Chrome is certainly faster to start up and to load pages, but I still prefer Firefox. I need the extensions, and it's sort of habit.. I've been using it for so long and am used to it.

[SwitchBladeUK]

Meh, plug in's will come..

I believe Chrome is the better browser.

[ekay]

I have both installed on my PC atm - I'd switch to Google Chrome completely/instantly I think if there was a way to synch up my bookmarks between my various OSs and PCs. (Currently I use Foxmarks/Xmarks to synch my Firefox bookmarks on various PCs/Firefox isntalls and between my Linux and Windows installs).

I use MyYahoo as a homepage, all my bookmarks are on the MyYahoo page so no matter what PC I go on (home, work, friends) I just load it up and it's all there. Plus I don't need to worry about backing em' up when reinstalling OS.
All the biggies have their own version (google, msn), so that might help. Or if you want to get real fancy you could build your own webpage with your bookmarks and host it somewhere.

This has been around for years, but I haven't seen many people use these 'Portal' pages for bookmarks, most people I know use all those firefox plugins (that you've mentioned). Not sure why, maybe it isn't obvious enough?

edit:
Oh yeah, Chrome. I got it when it first came out and it was nice, I liked the clean look to it. But after a while it seemed to get pretty buggy, random crashes, lag from loading several script heavy pages. I haven't used it since and it's been hard to tell whether they have fixed those problems yet. AFAIK, they don't advertise the version number that well, like IE and Firefox does, so it's hard for me to tell if a lot has changed since I've tried it. (eg, when IE goes from IE6 to IE7 you know thats a big deal).

[Zofo]

Meh, plug in's will come..

I believe Chrome is the better browser.

See thats what I don't understand...better how?

Course I am looking at this from my point of view, my ff is loaded with useful plugins and it loads instantly, no delay whatsoever, it has all my bookmarks on the title bar, real easy access etc...

I have nothing against chrome, tbh I usually use whatever is the best/fastest/ease of use, i have no allegiances to anything

[stoned_llama]

I believe Chrome is the better browser.

See thats what I don't understand...better how?

Course I am looking at this from my point of view, my ff is loaded with useful plugins and it loads instantly, no delay whatsoever, it has all my bookmarks on the title bar, real easy access etc...

I have nothing against chrome, tbh I usually use whatever is the best/fastest/ease of use, i have no allegiances to anything

Guess it depends what you value in a browser.
Personally, I like it to load fast. I still have the habit of closing apps I'm not using (last PC had 512mb RAM...). Google Chrome definitely loads faster for me - I still don't understand how your Firefox loads instantly - or how it loads faster than Google Chrome, which all the hype suggested loaded significantly faster.
Google Chrome renders pages quicker. Webkit is faster than Gecko, so that makes sense. Course, depending on your internet connection and other factors the difference could be negligible.
Google Chrome had a newer/faster Javascript engine. Not sure if FF adopted it yet - it was planned I think.
Google Chroem Looks and acts sleek.
Google Chome is just more exciting...

I guess for peeps who value the above more than whatever reasons they have to use Firefox, then Google Chrome is better, and vice versa if those things aren't so important to ya.

I'm using Google Chrome (beta-2.0.172. and Firefox 3 (3.0., and use both for now. But I'm not in much doubt I'll switch to Google Chrome completely when plugins and my bookmarks situation is covered.

[stoned_llama]

I use MyYahoo as a homepage, all my bookmarks are on the MyYahoo page so no matter what PC I go on (home, work, friends) I just load it up and it's all there. Plus I don't need to worry about backing em' up when reinstalling OS.
All the biggies have their own version (google, msn), so that might help. Or if you want to get real fancy you could build your own webpage with your bookmarks and host it somewhere.

This has been around for years, but I haven't seen many people use these 'Portal' pages for bookmarks, most people I know use all those firefox plugins (that you've mentioned). Not sure why, maybe it isn't obvious enough?

Cheers for the tip - funnily enough I found the 'Google Bookmarks' web thing today for the first time ever. I've always hated 'portals', dunno why. Personally, I prefer my bookmarks to use the toolbar and the browsers 'proper' bookmark features. So a plugin/extension/'cloud' system could work, if my bookmarks are stored remotely and then loaded into the browser. On the other hand, I'm not entirely happy with Google or someone else storing my bookmarks on their computers...

edit:
Oh yeah, Chrome. I got it when it first came out and it was nice, I liked the clean look to it. But after a while it seemed to get pretty buggy, random crashes, lag from loading several script heavy pages. I haven't used it since and it's been hard to tell whether they have fixed those problems yet. AFAIK, they don't advertise the version number that well, like IE and Firefox does, so it's hard for me to tell if a lot has changed since I've tried it. (eg, when IE goes from IE6 to IE7 you know thats a big deal).

When it first 'came out' Google Chrome was in alpha/beta remember! Quite a bit of work's gone on since then.
Google Chrome is version 2, or at least the beta I'm using is (based on what my 'About Google Chrome' window says...). Don't remember the last time it crashed or lagged or anything on me. As each tab is it's own process, in theory problems should be 'contained' and not screw up (crash/slow) other tabs. It's a pretty neat thing I think... If ya haven't used it since it first came out, but liked it 'cept for the bugs 'n' crashes, it's worth trying again now - pretty darn stable. Still no plugins remains it's #1 problem imo, though. I certainly wouldn't use any browser if I couldn't block javascript/ads/cookies (I have to do it via a local filtering proxy atm).

[DevilsRefugee]

+1 for ff..

not a fan of chrome, and can search google within ff anyway..so being able to do it in browser is nothing fresh for me.

[Zofo]

Guess it depends what you value in a browser.
Personally, I like it to load fast. I still have the habit of closing apps I'm not using (last PC had 512mb RAM...). Google Chrome definitely loads faster for me - I still don't understand how your Firefox loads instantly - or how it loads faster than Google Chrome, which all the hype suggested loaded significantly faster.
Google Chrome renders pages quicker. Webkit is faster than Gecko, so that makes sense. Course, depending on your internet connection and other factors the difference could be negligible.
Google Chrome had a newer/faster Javascript engine. Not sure if FF adopted it yet - it was planned I think.
Google Chroem Looks and acts sleek.
Google Chome is just more exciting...

I guess for peeps who value the above more than whatever reasons they have to use Firefox, then Google Chrome is better, and vice versa if those things aren't so important to ya.

I'm using Google Chrome (beta-2.0.172. and Firefox 3 (3.0., and use both for now. But I'm not in much doubt I'll switch to Google Chrome completely when plugins and my bookmarks situation is covered.

I value plugins so thats a no for chrome, I value fast load times and see no difference between chrome and ff so firefox is a winner again, and I don't consider a browser looking or acting sleek as a valid reason to switch for me

Chrome was definitely hyped up too much, lots of folk jumped on the band wagon, at the end of the day its just another browser and one that has a lot less functionality than firefox, I have yet to see a valid argument for switching, saying its more exciting means nothing to me i'm afraid