The launch of Google's new web browser, Chrome, was a huge success judging from the interest its download generated in the last twenty-four hours. Starting with Google's formal announcement and subsequent press release, searches for google chrome, google web browser chrome, download google chrome, chrome web browser download and other Chrome-related keyword mutations dominated cyberspace. Adding to the frenzy was the delayed release of the download link. Though it was announced that the link would be available by September 2, they failed to mention that it would be at 12 noon California time. Due to this, curious techies from earlier time zones started their search early. And when the east coast of America started to wake up, the hysteria grew even bigger. How do I know all these? Well, this site was a lucky recipient of a small fraction of the traffic generated by the Google Chrome download craze, and I happily monitored this wave of
interest last night (our time).

Google Chrome web browser download page
Now that that the dust has settled a bit and many have had their Chrome shots, the few who have yet to download the web browser (this blogger included) are curious if this latest Google tool lives up to all the hype it's been getting. How polished and shiny is this Chrome? I found several reviews in cyberspace, offering different perspectives based on their test drives of Google's latest instrument in their goal to conquer the world wide web.

Update: new Google Chrome browser version/update released, security bugs fixed

Stephen Shankland in his entry, Speed test: Google Chrome beats Firefox, IE, Safari, confirms Google's claim that Chrome is "many times faster" than its rivals at running JavaScript, the programming language that powers Google Docs, Gmail, and many other Web applications. He arrived at this conclusion by personally testing the new browser against Internet Explorer, IE 8 beta 2, Firefox 3.0.1 and Safari 3.1.2. (Image/chart credits to Stephen Shankland/CNET News)

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Indeed, that's the consensus among reviewers, readers and the many comments I've read so far about this browser, with some even exclaiming that Chrome is killing both IE 7 and Firefox 3 on their system in boot up, close out, page rendering, and Javascript. Some, on the other hand, point out that it's not up to par with the other two big guns yet as it lacks the necessary add-ons and plug-ins to make for a better browsing experience, a disadvantage that Google, I'm sure, will remedy soon. There are also other observers who aren't a bit convinced that this offering from Google is the answer. I found the following (amusing) comment in one of these review posts:

Let's not forget that javascript is only a small component of the overall web browser experience. In other words.... if you get a toilet that flushes 10x faster than what you got now... how much benefit you'll see will depend on how often you worship the porcelain god each day.

Nick Mediati of PC World, on the other hand, offers a more comprehensive review of this new product by offering details about its strengths (clever search feature, innovative Quicklaunch shortcut, private browsing or "incognito", etc) as well as its understandable instability due to its beta status. Still, the overall conclusion is that this product is something to be reckoned with.

Google takes aim squarely at Microsoft with the release of its new Web browser, Chrome. And Microsoft should be very afraid: Chrome lives up to its hype by rethinking the Web browser in clever and convenient ways that make using the Web a more organic experience than you'd get with either Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 or Mozilla's Firefox 3.

I have yet to download Google's Chrome browser. As I said in my previous post, I'll adopt a wait and see stand on this after my experience with Firefox 3. I even wrote that I may try the product a month after its launch to make sure some of the bugs have been fixed. But after reading mostly favorable reviews, something tells me that I will abandon that stand sooner than planned. How about you, have you downloaded the Google Chrome web browser?

BTW, I found the following video on Youtube. It's sort of an instructional download, demo and review of the Google Chrome. Though I found it too fast to follow, the background music was cool! He he. You may have better luck with it than I did.