Google Chrome Sounds Great, But Does It Deliver?

Google Chrome is Google’s latest attempt at entering the browser market, and I must admit it does seem like a refreshing new twist on the concept of what a browser should really be.  I haven’t tested it yet because as of now Google Chrome is not a fully functional linux application although a linux version is supposed to be in the works.  The browser is currently in beta testing.

What Makes Google Chrome Different?

Well most modern day browsers are based on a single-threaded design model where everything that happens within the browser is part of one big process.  This has worked fine in the past because the web wasn’t the highly interactive place that it is now.  With all of the graphics, social media, web apps, and other helper scripts present today, there is a need for browser accountability and task separation.  For example, sometimes after playing a series videos or other multimedia in my Firefox browser, it will just crash.  So I lose everything that I am working on without any explanation.  This is most likely caused by a memory leak, memory address problem, or plugin issue.  But as we depend on the web more and more for work and business, these types of crashes and browser issues must be addressed.  Indeed the internet is becoming a utility just like water, gas, and electricity and some degree of base stability has to be expected and delivered.  The Chrome browser is supposed to address these concerns.  The browser incorporates fundamental operating systems principles such as multi-threaded design, process management, and garbage collection.

The core feature of the browser is its process management.  In Chrome, each browser tab represents an individual process.  So if one tab does crash, the rest of the browser shouldn’t be affected.  Also just like operating systems, Chrome allows the user to see process management tasks.  This allows you to see where the most memory is being used, and what is using it. You can monitor processes, and end the ones that have stalled.  Also google’s V8 team has written a custom javascript virtual machine that translates javascript source into machine code, and it employs precise garbage collection so it knows where code that is no longer needed is located.  In theory this should speed up web apps.  This is just a sampling of the included features.

No Linux Support?

Currently the most functional version of the Google Chrome browser is the windows version.  However mac and linux versions are in the works.  The mac version may be further along in development than the linux version.  I’m not sure.  But neither the mac nor the linux version are supposed to be just simple ports of the windows version.  Google is promising that each of these platforms is going to have a custom built Chrome browser.  Also you can sign up to be notified of updates for the linux version.  The other neat thing about the browser is that it is open source which is always a plus.  As I said before, this is one application I really want to check out.  Hopefully it will deliver.

KJ

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