Google Chrome Review by the Rich Sage: Part One.

This is a two-part review of the Google Chrome Browser. September 1St marked a historic day in that Google announced the release of their Chrome Browser  -what’s defined as an open-source, applications driving browser from Google. UPDATE: Part TWO is here.

My initial read of the project tells me that this is much more than a browser  –It’s the start of an Operating System (OS) by Google!

I’ve reviewed several applications that are “cloud based computing” — these are applications that run partly on your local pc –at times regardless of what you use locally, be it Windows, Apple OSX or any Linux flavor.  Well, lately even iPhone applications that do the “processing” in the Cloud.  My favorite is the voice recognition software software that captures your voice on the iPhone and ‘transcribes’ it via the Internet at a server farm and send you the results via the ‘Net and displays it on the iPhone.

The advantage of this type of computing is that the service running in the “clouds” runs a major part of the application and we at the local end, on our pc end up with the results.

UPDATE: You can learn all you want about Google’s Chrome via this video series.  And a simple installation is reached from this link — Keep in mind that the rest of the world is trying to install it too. It’s BUSY!  You can pick your particular language at the top left of the current browser window.

Above is a comic strip explanation of Google Chrome (Click Here for the Complete Comic Book), which will be released today, the 2nd of September.  More of my thoughts continue, as well as my link to PART TWO, after the browser is released…

Google Chrome Browser:

Often such an application is storing data locally and connects to a remote database (master database) to backup or synchronize data on a regular basis.

Now Google is taking that to the next step by bringing to the table a software platform that allow cloud computing to accelerate, protect users and begin the process of making a unique operating system that takes advantage of all the individual elements to run our computing experience.  The browser is now morphing to an operating system!

Brilliant!

This is the modern day equivalent to the Trogan Horse! Did I say Brilliant?

The future of computing is where we connect to an online bank of computers (server farm) to get our work done, while maintaining a local copy of that work.  This type of computing we already use often, even when we don’t realize it.  IF you check your email on gmail or use Google Docs, you’re doing just that  –cloud computing.  Part of what your doing is on your local computer or via connections to your server (such as checking email), and the other part such as saving Google Docs locally is done on your computer.

The biggest causality I see in this squeeze is the FireFox Browser, which was making large strides in its progress as the innovator.  Much of their funding was from Google’s payments that flowed from the FireFox browser’s start page and searches displaying Google ads.  I don’t think those payments are going to survive for long.

So, What Does the Future Hold?

• Many more applications that take advantage of Cloud Computing — Your computer may become just a Networked Computer (NC), while much of the number crunching is done online.
• Software updates will be done “on the fly”, as needed  –this is the closest thing we’ll have to a “self healing computer”.
• I hope that process will also enhance the security features, which can be addressed in days when a threat is spotted, than in weeks like in the past when a security patch had to be released.
• Since the number crunching is distributed, we may be able to use the same browser on a phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet pc, etc., etc.  –universal computing.

While the future looks good in that one browser based solution can deliver what we need to be mobile and have access to a wide variety of computing and information, there are some drawbacks, which I hope are minor.

Then I See Some Negatives:

• Are we going to see more ads? Even smarter ads?
• Are we going to tracked and get cataloged even more than we are now?
• Will we be able to control our privacy?

So, there are more questions that are up in the air as things get started.  But, it is an exciting leap in technology as more and more of the applications that we use rely on the browser and “cloud computing”.

I’ll follow up in the coming days with PART TWO –in my review of the Google Chrome Browser.

Carpe Diem,
Rich Sage