Browser Wars: How does Chrome rank against the competition?

08 September 2008

Google's Chrome browser, launched just a few days ahead of the company's tenth birthday, has already elicited considerable response from the World Wide Web, both positive and negative.

While supporters rave about the minimalist appearance, which reflects the search engine's homepage and yet delivers astounding performance, naysayers criticise the lack of certain features users take for granted as well as the company's feared privacy policies which had been criticized by wannabe Google startup, Cuil. (See: Google launches own internet browser 'Google Chrome' and Google gears up for a ''Cuil'' challenge)

First, the positives.

Many users rate Chrome faster than Internet Explorer, even matching up to the blistering speeds achieved by Safari. In fact, some assert that Google's offering beats Mozilla's iconic product as far as the simultaneous opening of multiple web pages are concerned.

Chrome uses a system that helps keep your computer running even when an application freezes. Unlike other browsers, each website open in Chrome runs as a separate browser; if one stops working it shouldn't affect the others.

A third positive is the way Chrome simplifies the file download process. It's the first browser to download documents without opening a separate window. It creates an unobtrusive downloads bar and file icon at the bottom of the browser which can be clicked to open the file.

Now, the shortcomings.