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My first post using Google Chrome

So this morning when I fired up my browser (Firefox) for the first time, Google's home page had changed again - yesterday the stump jump plough, today a whole new browser is available. I started to read about it yesterday on Google's blog and obviously there is a stack of posts all over the place now. Now, being a bit of a Web tragic, the first thing I had to do was download it and check it out for myself so I clicked on the link and off I went to the download page. Unfortunately for me there it was: "Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows" followed by a big button which said something like 'Sign up now' for news about Mac. Bummer! Not to be deterred, I quickly located a Windows machine and promptly downloaded Chrome and started it up. The user interface, well you just have to see it and judge for yourself. The first time its kind well...I don't know! The first task I thought of doing was to write a blog post and that is what I am doing while I am experimenting with it. The next thing you notice is it is blindingly fast! The performance seems to be fantastic. As I started writing my post (in Wordpress using the simple editor) I came to the point where I wanted to insert my first link and.. wait a second - where have all the editor buttons gone? Some stuff just isn't working yet. Ok, it's a beta version and Google seems to be following its philosophy of 'launch early and iterate' but having to code html tags in my blog posts is not something I am keen on. What did a link tag look like? So there is only one link in this post and that is all there is going to be because it's just a pain to do. I guess this post won't be picked up in too many places. As I write the post I am checking a few things so hit the new tab button and now things are starting to look interesting. On the 'new tab' page my history is starting to build up and I am getting a nice graphical display of my most visited pages and other history. The next thing I do is go to the home page but where is it? I can't find a button for it. This is interesting! Back to the Google Chrome site and I can see that there is information telling me that I have to set a home page before I get a button. Ok - here goes... and a little bit later its done (from the customise and control Google Chrome button select 'options' and away you go). But where's my home button? Back into the options and I can now see that it is a two step process - I have to set a home page and then tick a box to tell Chrome to display it. Now I have a home page button and I am happy. Old habits die hard and for the moment I just need a home page! Alright I have had enough playing with this new browser, what would make me want to use it? I can see why Google would like me to use it and Larry Dignan covers that in his blog on ZDNet (Oh no, now I have to code another link!). Here it is. The thing that immediately came to my mind was all the websites and services that I have trouble accessing because they require Internet Explorer. Recent examples for me include Vivaty and Google's own Lively (and I am not going to link to them). Why do they insist on developing them for IE? If Google could integrate all of its products (including Lively), I might be tempted. As I write this I am conscious that I should be checking what I am writing about so of I go to Lively and I find out that it will work in Firefox (woohoo) but not the platform I am currently on (Chrome). As I continue to navigate around I am still impressed with the speed of this browser however speed is not the only thing that counts - functionality is key too. I probably picked a poor task to do first but writing this post in Wordpress has really highlighted for me that there are some things in a browser that just must work in order for me to use it. I know its only BETA and as such, would be staying away from it in many educational settings but I can see that moving forwards, it has real potential. I look forward to the other half of the 'launch early and iterate' mantra! Cheers, Jerry

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