Comments on: How widely used is Chrome? More than I expected

In two months, Google's Chrome rose from nothing to 3.6 percent of browsers used to view CNET News. It's less common in the mainstream though.

[jinx101a]

I don't care how good the browser is, I refuse to use a browser from a company whose main source of income is advertising. That coupled with there aggresive terms of service (especially with their online apps) are more than enough reason for me to never use them. I'll stick with Firefox and IE.

[Stoney229]

I still use IE, Chrome, and FF2, depending on my needs at the time, but I am not thrilled with any of them. IE is my default browser because of great website compatability, but it is kinda slow and I use it the least of any of them. FF2 is nice with lots of functionality (I use a lot of add-ons too), but it is REALLY slow (prob b/c of all my add-ons lol), esp to start up (like 2mins, which is frusterating b/c it is not due to any hardware limitations), and Chrome is rediculously fast but rediculously buggy, and many less features than FF2.

[Risket]

It's sad that many people are still using IE.... After using Firefox for years Internet Explorer is one of the worst and most insecure browsers I've ever used.

I use Google Chrome every once and a while and I really like it. There are just still some things that are not compatible with Chrome right now that I have to switch back to Firefox to use.

Therefore after years of trying other browser I ALWAYS go back to Firefox.

[Chocobito]

Oh, please cut if off with all this Chrome Advertising, talk about other browser or everyone else will start to ingore your comments.

[Scott Gardener]

When I'm on my own computer, expect to see Chrome as my browser of choice, though sometimes I'm on Firefox. I use Chrome by default for its sheer speed. I was impressed with how quickly it supported most plug-ins, and it seems to be holding true to its promise of rock-solid stability and isolation of crashes, in sharp contrast to IE's crashes and stalls that drag down not only the whole browser but sometimes the entire OS.


Still, occasionally I hit a site that expects IE or Firefox, and I have to switch for that site. Microsoft's Windows updates pretty much require using IE.


You'll see me on Internet Explorer when I'm visiting from work, mainly because they don't generally install better browsers and don't let us do it, either. I suspect that's the principal reason you see as much IE as you do on a tech site, given that techies almost universally use everything BUT IE. And, this is coming from someone who otherwise likes Microsoft and even endorses Vista. Granted, I don't feel IE is neccessarily bad, it's just that everyone else is better, and Microsoft really needs to do better about dropping proprietary pets like "Silverlight" and focus on keeping up with everyone else. Google is about to do to them what they've done to everyone else.

[isykal]

I'm a big fan of Chrome. Switched to it from the slow CPU-hogging FireFox.

[ccwsoftware]

Some of you apparently expect Google to actually take Chrome out of Beta, sometime within your lifetimes. Given their track record on that count, here's how I see that working out for you: the videos of your wakes should play well in Chrome Version 32,767.102b (Beta).

Seriously, I tried Chrome. I was initially very impressed by its speed, but was ultimately dismayed by its complete lack of support for anything remotely resembling an ad blocker. (Well, Google lives on advertising, so I guess I just wasn't thinking too clearly when I installed it.) I also noted, eventually, that my disk drive seemed to spin quite a bit as long as Chrome was running, even if I let it sit open but idle, as though the thing was indexing my drive or drives. I make no claims there, and am not prepared to pursue the matter. Regardless, I scratched Chrome, and told Google why I was doing so in the process.

So, back to FF and IE, in that order. FF with the NoScript and Adblock Plus add-ons, of course -- they slow it down considerably but without them, it is really no better than IE 7. The IE Tab add-on for FF helps with compatibility at a lot of sites, but I still need and use IE for some sites and/or tasks. That's a lot of add-ons bogging down the FF experience.

So, here's the rub: by the time Google gets bogged down with integrated (never) or add-on support for things like ad-blocking and selective script-or app-blocking, it will then be no better than IE or FF in any significant regard. Yet, it will still be plagued with the ever present privacy concerns associated with using nearly any Google application. Chrome then becomes little more than a Google Clown Car, something they had some fun with and drew some attention with, something they briefly threatened the security of the ring masters and lion tamers with, a toy they shook up the market with for a while, if only because it needed a bit of shaking up.

[curmudgeonlygoat]

I see a lot of comments mentioning having to use IE to access many web sites. Apparently, not too many people are aware of the IE Tabs add on for Firefox. IE Tabs and a few other add ons keep me coming back to FF. The biggest problem that I had with Chrome, when I tried it, was that, because it is designed to take advantage of multi-core processors, it would overwhelm my Sempron when I had more than 5 or six tabs open. I don't have that problem using Firefox, since I have stuffed enough RAM into this 4 yr old E-Machine to handle anything that I want to do.

[lokanadam]

why doesn't google make its search engine open source ?
whereas it releases all its competitor's bread and butter as open source ?

[snowden11]

Opera's market share may be small, but it truely is the best browser in my view, small, lots of features and fast. I will always continue to use it, tried using Firefox, didn't like it, same with Chrome.

I would have to say Safari is the worst browser out of Opera, Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

[The User]

Yeah, yeah.

That's rather a dramatic failure than a success story. Chrome jumped to 1.5% within days, just to drop to under 0.74%, continuously sliding in popularity after its first release.

Given the Google brand, all the hype and active non-stop promotion to 10s of millions web users (Chrome is actively marketed at youTube and other sites) it is a big failure story. No other browser in history got the same advertising and publicity backing as Chrome did. No other browser was so actively pushed and advertised. And despite all the Google power, it keeps sliding.

[Aus_Engineer]

trouble is no one can or should trust google, they are more evil that MS could ever be, not only do they keep all your data, and will give it to the government, they turn in dissidents to the chinese government who posted something critical of the chinese government.

they spy on you, and cant be trusted, i would not use google for anything except totally harmless searches.

i would NEVER use Gmail, or any of their office apps.

they screwed FOSS and everyone they can, not too mention the limiting of data in china .

The sooner google is out of business the better.

[forever4now]

You sound a lot like Steve Balmer. Could it be???? Nooooo...probably just a coincidence.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Google got me. The latest build has yet to crash or render a page wrong. Much faster than any other and rock solid and simple. The Omni-bar , the maximum screen real estate , did I mention the speed ?
I am a MicroSoftie at heart , but Google I must admit , this Chrome browser is even better that their search ! Chrome will make the others go back to the drawing board , or die. It is THAT good.

[gvandeusen]

Although Chrome's feature set doesn't match Firefox, it is definitely quicker. I've done A to B comparisons on my machine and it is consistently more nimble, which, for me at least, is the number two most important feature after security.

[jpmccloud01]

I have tried, and use IE7, I'e tried firefox, safari, spaces, and Chrome. I like IE7 for some stuff and Like Chrome for other things. I wish Chrome got off the beta thing and don't like the rest. Performance on my 5 yr old PC is great with IE7 or Chrome but not the rest . that's what i'm saying

[christopher3393]

Chrome has gradually become my main browser for 2 reasons: Speed and layout. There have been occasional bugs and crashes, but fewer than IE7! I've also used Safari and like it, but still prefer Chrome because of tabs, frequent site quick access on main page,etc. It's simplicity allows me to navigate faster than w/ Safari.

I wouldn't mind giving Chrome a try but unfortunately they haven't released a Linux version yet . It would be interesting to see what all the fuss is about. Until then, I'm quite happy with Firefox, Galleon, and Opera.

PS>I find it interesting that Google never hesitated one bit in releasing a Linux version of Google Earth. Yet, they are strangely quiet when it comes to releasing Chrome for Linux...

[forever4now]

I'm sure their priority is to get Chrome polished on Windows first...especially if their goal is to get it pre-installed on new Windows machines. Getting it running on Linux will only take market share from Firefox, which I doubt is their goal.

I use Ubuntu and I'm quite happy with Firefox, so I'm in no hurry to get Chrome.

[tipoo_]

well, the good thing about Opera having such a low percentage is that there are less people trying to find exploits for it, so i'll stick with it for a while.

[InsomniacInc]

I'd be glad to add to the stats if they'd get off their buts and make that mac version they keep dangling in front of us.

[fspieg]

Way to many banks and commercial sites will not accept Chrome. Obviously do to security concerns.