Although at first I will only give reviews for Windows programs, I plan to, in the future, also review Mac and Linux programs as well.

So, stick around, and come back later for reviews of the latest software, and maybe even a few surprises, too.

Google Chrome

Ok, so, if you’re reading this, it’s probably because you found this blog accidentally, or you are someone I know. Either way, please don’t shoot me…yet.

Info:

• Developer: Google
  
• Type of software: Web browser
• Current version/build: 0.2.149.30
• Website: http://www.google.com/chrome
• Price: FREE!!

In a world with many great web browser out there, such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and even Safari for Mac, Google’s new browser still promises competition, and even competition against these “giants” of internet browsing.

Features:
It is very hard for a new competing browser to have features that others don’t. Many revolutionary aspects of browsing have already been introduced, such as tabs, privacy, and even simple things like bookmarks, or even an integrated search box. Google, however, expands on these ideas to form even better ones.

As soon as you open up Chrome, you will notice it’s beautiful UI, an amazingly useful home page, and a set of tabs that go over the address bar – not under it.

You will also notice that there is, in fact, no visible search box. There’s just the address bar. You might ask yourself: “Well, if Google, famously known for their amazingly cool search engine, shouldn’t they put such a thing in any/all of their products?? Specially since this is a web browser!!”. Well, it turns out, the address bar is used to do searches, too. Not many people know this, but, when you type something in Firefox, and you leave out the top-level domain (TDL, such as .com or .org) it will either 1) type the TDL for you, or 2) search the word/phrase on your favorite search engine. Google Chrome uses the same feature, with one exeption: as you type, it will show you suggestion of what you want to search.

Another great feature, mentioned before, is its great default homepage. Unlike other browsers homepages, Chrome has a very simple, yet very useful homepage. When you load Chrome for the first time, you will not see much, but as you continue using it, your 9 most visited websites will appear, thumnail included. You will also be able to see recently bookmarked sites, add bookmarks to a field at the top, and even be able to search your history. This homepage, of course, can be easily changed, if you want to.

The last great feature I’ll cover today, is, of course: the tabs. Back in the days of Internet Explorer 5, people had to keep clustering their taskbar by loading up every single site they wanted to vist, in separate windows. This caused great loses of RAM, and even frequent crashes of the OS itself. As a result, someone at IBM thankfully introduced what we now know as: tabs. As a Firefox user, I never have more than 2 Firefox windows open at any given time. With Chrome, it is the same thing: You have tabs, you can open one pressing Ctrl-T, You can have multiple (up to…hundreds?), you can close them again with Ctrl-W. What makes tabs in Chrome more special? Well, you can move, arrange, combine, move to different windows, and even duplicate them. So? It looks cool when it does it!! Also, each tab works like a different process, allowing maximum usability, and, if a website were to crash, Chrome itself woudln’t crash, just the tab. This is useful, specially if you have a billion and a half tabs open, and you don’t want to “accidentaly” lose them because your web browser crashed while watching a video of Charlie and the Candy Mountain on Youtube.

So, now that you know a bit more about Google Chrome, what score will I give it??

Rating:

• Usefulness: 7/10 - although it is very handy, it does crash sometimes. But hey, its still in a very early build to make any firm decisions about it.
• Ease of use: 5/5 - this is one area Google knows how to handle. It is probably one of the simplest web browsers I’ve ever used, and yet it’s still as powerful as any other.
  
• Looks: 9 - Although looks aren’t everything, apparently, someone at Google thought they were. It is a beautiful browser, with an exceptional UI, with a great blue touch.
  
• Comparisons: There is always Firefox, with it’s latest version 3. If you like Chrome, then you’ll love Firefox, if you’re not already using it.
  
• Over-all: 90 - Obviosly, with such an early build, there’s still a lot to improve, and, Google definately has the power to do so. You can expect many great things from them in the future.
  
• Suggestions: If you are using Firefox and are happy with it, don’t switch to Chrome right now. If you are using any other browser, try out Chrome, see if you like it. If you don’t, swtich to Firefox. Period.

A great browser, a great company, and a great score! Not bad for the first review.
Tune in later for more reviews!!

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Usefulness: (1-10, determines how useful a program really is, according to ones needs)
Ease of use: (1-5, determines how easy a program is to use)
Looks: (1-10, determines how good or bad the user interface is)
Comparisons: (compares it to other similar programs)
Over-all: (0-100, determines the overall score for the program)
Suggestions: (whether you should get the program or not)