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Archive for September, 2008
@ADOBE RIA Developer Summit
I am at the RIA Developer summit by Adobe. Its ok. Not mindblowing. More on it later. I wanted cover it live but maybe some other time.
p.s. They dont have wifi. Iam using my data card. sad. Iam at the Taj Residency trinity conference room.
Chrome Flaws
Here is the first flaw . A good one at that. In IE this will be caught (If you have the right settings). Try this in CHROME even after ticking the “Ask where to save each file.” . It fails miserably. Reportedly this is because CHROME is actually WebKit 525.13 (Safari 3.1), which is an outdated/vulnerable version of that browser. Apple closed the carpet-bombing problem in Safari v3.1.2.
Keep watching this space for more.
Read more here
Give me a FulCHROME and a place to search and I will lift the Internet
That seems to be the driving motto of the CHROME team. No points for guessing the browser I am using for this post. I anticipated Server Overload while downloading CHROME (Bad bad Server, No Donuts for you). But nothing of that sort happened maybe beacause I was an earlybird (Earlybird gets the chrome?). The installation was glitch-less. Migration of data from IE7 was also NAQA (No Annoying Questions Asked) and a quickie.
Next Question : Look and Feel?
Let me confess. I have been an IE user throughout. Right from IE3. So it has been a blue journey throughout. Chrome is also blue albeit a lighter shade. The now famous trinitywheel logo does bring about a welcome change from the eswish logo. Chrome atleast LOOKS like a lightweight browser. It gives you a feeling that it is very fragile. Maybe I am taking the beta testing too seriously 
The tabs sits on the very top. It looks like an index box. Which is not a bad design. Very intuitive. Leaves you with lots of spaces for the web content. Total utilisation of space I must say. Not bad at all.
The Tabs sit pretty with the Close/Maximize/Minimize buttons of Windows. So thats the first row. The second row is taken up by Back/Forward/Refresh/Bookmark/OMNIBOX/Go/Control/Settings. Thats it. Rest of the space is for the web content. You get valuable real estate here.
Contrast this with IE7.
The first row is the HTML Title with the Close/Maximize/Minimize buttons of Windows.
Second Row is the Address Bar.
Third Row could be taken up by a toolbar(Google toolbar for instance).
Fourth Row taken up by the Tabs and settings and bookmarks etc.
And not to forget the bottom Row which tells the site download status bringing the total to five rows.
One cant help but notice the difference. 2 rows Vs 5. Fifteen-Love CHROME.
See it for yourself in the snapshots below.
5 Rows real estate eaten by IE7
Only 2 rows of real estate taken up by the browser.
Another point to be noted is that how many ever tabs you open in CHROME you will not be shown a horizontal scroll bar as shown in IE7. The above snapshot has about 35 tabs open without flinching. The IE7 shows a horizontal scroll after 12 tabs. See the snapshot below.
Thirty – Love . CHROME.
One thing which I found lacking in CHROME was the absence of eclipse style close button for Tabs. If you have used eclipse then you recognize that the tabs can be closed WITHOUT clicking on them. You get the close cross even if you hover the mouse on the Tab. That doesnt happen in either IE or CHROME. Why?
[UPDATE] Woohoo. You CAN close Tabs without WITHOUT clicking on them. Only Exception is that after some 15 Tabs it does not happen simply because of the lack of real-estate. I am Happy. 
[UPDATE] It has a task manager. . Click on the icon which says “Control the current page” , Go to Developer , Choose “Task Manager”. Alternatively, Press Shft+Esc.
So overall a clean interface which gives a feeling of light-weightedness.
Now the most important Question: Performance?
It works like a dream for Google apps at least. Like the in-built chat client in gmail (gtalk) is alive and kicking on my 115Kbps Datacard. It normally isnt on IE.
For the other sites and performances we will need to wait and watch. Issues might pour in. There will be lots of issues with their new JSEngine. Or there might not be. Keep watching this space for more performance issues.
So what happens now?
Google has gone all out to make CHROME accessible to users. Their sacred white hompage now urges user to download the CHROME Beta. I dont remember if they have ever used their sacred white for any other product (other than the topmost row which sells all their apps). Its a war alright.
I reiterate my stand. Who needs an OS? I just need a strong browser. Which CHROME is not. Yet. Who knows what happens next(Sergey-Larry knows ).
gchrome and betaal
I am downloading google chrome as I write this. The installation is web based. I wonder if that is a good way going forward. More on it after it is installed.
So on one of the mailing lists I was discussing why a web based OS is what I need and how chrome seems to be a step towards it. All I need from my OS is that it should compile my code, store my files, allow manipulation on them, media playback and allow me to browse. Each and every one of my requirement is being fullfilled by some or the other online SaaS. So why should I pay for Vista? All I need is a browser with enough muscles to delegate my computing needs to the cloud out there and get my results in a desirable format.
Ok. Enough Gyan. Let it install and then we shall see.
Like the poet said. “Mat puchh ki kya haal hai mera tere aage. Yeh dekh ki kya rang hai tera mere aage”
Translation : My feelings for you are trivial. But look at you. You are the one who is reflecting true colors.
Thats for IE Vs Chrome if you were wondering.
Windows-Killer is here
Google yesterday announced google chrome . Its a browser or so they say. Looks more like a mini OS to me. The comic rocks too.
When I was in college , I used to wonder what exactly is going on in googleplex. Where are all the brains which were being hired by google going? I used to come to a single conclusion : They are creating a windows-killer. The chrome is only the beginning. I suspect google has a lot of tricks left up their sleeves.
I believe its not very difficult to kill Windows. Mozilla started it. Google is carrying it forward. The world needs more PhD. dropouts.
The next question in my mind : Who is going to be U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc in the coming years. Who will make OS with AI? Who will bring about the next wave of industrial revolution? Who will be the next Masters of the Universe? Will it be a single entity or a community effort. Any way forward historically has been driven by individual inventors(bulbs, cars, airplanes). What will happen this time around?
While you ponder over these questions, I will go and ponder over what will my PhD. thesis be. As I said, world needs more PhD. dropouts.
