This blog posting was created with Google Chrome, which seems to support all of the fancy Javascript interface for WordPress. Chrome also works with all of the sites that have failed to load on friends’ Macintosh Safari browsers.
In one day, Google’s programmers have conquered almost every obstacle on the Web… but not every obstacle. The FAA used to have a paper form, the 8710, that one filled out to get a pilot’s certificate. You’d spend 10 minutes filling it out and then the examiner would sign it after your checkride. To replace this simple paper form they spend millions of dollars on a Web application called “IACRA”. IACRA works only with certain versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and only on XP and Vista. What happens on Google Chrome? You type your username and password into IACRA, hit return, and are confronted with a greyed-out screen.
Note to Microsoft and Apple: Google Chrome has its own Task Manager. This is a complete operating system disguised as a Web browser. A person who was a serious user of Chrome probably wouldn’t notice if the underlying OS were replaced with something free, e.g., Linux.
I checked out IACRA – it turns out that they’re doing digital signing. That’s a great solution if they need it to work off-line, but there’s no reason to go through all that trouble when you’re going to be connected to the web anyway (especially since they ended up making you use Windows and re-jigger your IE security settings).
If you have a web connection, a user name and strong password over an SSL connection is just as good as digital signing. The examiner would sign in, review your form and click “Ok” if they like it. If you’re really paranoid, use one of those nifty RSA keyfobs in addition to a password. Digital signing is a cool technology, but if someone compromises the computer you’re using to do the signing, it’s all out the window anyway. At least with the RSA keyfobs and a web log-in, they would have to steal a physical object that might be missed by its owner.
I think someone sold them a much more complicated solution than they needed.
it has like three processes running, two of which remain in memory (totaling 35mb) after i quit the Chrome browser.
i don’t notice the difference in speed over firefox.
“Chrome also works with all of the sites that have failed to load on friends’ Macintosh Safari browsers.”
That’s strange, given that Chrome is built using Webkit, the rendering engine behind Safari. The only thing I can think of that’d cause that is if those sites are doing User Agent detection and actively serving (broken) code specific to Safari.
There are certain JavaScript heavy pages, that are lightning fast under Chrome. Aside from slight rendering quirks, I would say it is a little bit ahead of Firefox 3 in all areas and for JS-heavy things, quite a bit ahead.
Stef, There are some known incompatibilities between Safari and Webkit. Perhaps Philip happened to hit some of these minor issues, or his friends don’t have the later Safari builds. It was interesting to me that the Chrome team’s choice of Webkit was inspired by the Android group.
Apparently by making this post with Chrome, you’ve also given Google “a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through [Chrome].” Thankfully, “[t]hi license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services,” but still…
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11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.
11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.
11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.
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See Section 11 of http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html
An update from Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome:
“In order to keep things simple for our users, we try to use the same set of legal terms (our Universal Terms of Service) for many of our products. Sometimes, as in the case of Google Chrome, this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product. We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.”
Good luck logging into a MS Exchange server with Chrome! Otherwise it works really well!
It’s also still a BETA. Of course it’ll fail at some sites; did you submit a report back to Google on that IACRA form?
With no adblock or flashblock this browser simply is not an option for me. I understand why chrome may never support extentions because things like adblock are counterproductive to google’s business model but without it, this browser will never even get a test drive out of me.
Stef and David, Chrome has its own Javascript engine, right? In this day and age that’s a far bigger difference than the HTML renderer and would easily explain compatibility issues.
IACRA doesn’t work in Chrome because it’s not designed to work in any other browser but IE 5.x (according to their site). The issue isn’t with Chrome but rather the awful web developers that the FAA hires. They never heard of porting.