Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Chrome Browser for Mac Beta Confirmed for December, Chrome OS Next Week?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The only Google process I have running on my Vista installation is Google Crash Handler at 588Kb:
(This is opposed to iTunes helper @ 3.1MB and Quicklook helper on my mac at 5.8MB - Do these need to run all the time?)
I really can't see the problem here.
Mac version here. MacRumors Forum, assumed we were all talking about Macs here and Chrome for Mac.
Are you running a Mac? Running Chrome on it? Take a look then. Try getting rid of it by killing the process.
The only 2 Google process I have running on my iMac is Google Chrome and Google Chrome Helper.
Both of these disappear once Chrome is shut down, I have no googlesoftwareupdateagent running all the time.
Click to enlarge.
Exactly where will I find googlesoftwareupdateagent which runs all the time and is unkillable?
I can't argue against your preferences Speedy and a lot of what you say makes sense (My iMac has 2GB's of ram and my PC/Hackintosh has 4GB's of ram - Plenty of memory) but I like the ideas that have been put into Chrome.
Both Safari and frefox are great browsers too and I use them both. The only browser I never really use (unless at work) is Internet Explorer.
I agree that Chrome is good, it's good competition, and I like that fact that it got a lot of media attention, just because it will make it known to the average Joe that there are other browsers out there, and that you DO have a choice. It will keep MS, Apple and the Mozilla Foundation on their toes.
It's a very good sign if people can really choose according to their personal taste and are not forced to use a certain product because of monopolistic behaviour or general web designer sloppiness.
Unfortunately, there's still a longer way to go. Chrome hasn't had a major impact on the market apart from the media buzz and, as we all know, there are too many web sites out there that don't work the way they should. However, thanks to Firefox, everything points to a slow but steady improvement.
Edit: And thanks to Safari + the iPhone browser I should add. Webkit cannot be neglected anymore by big websites.
Have you used Google's apps?
They are an effective replacement for Exchange and, especially for companies that do not have specific requirements, offer a very broad range of functionality at a fraction of the cost of running and managing your own servers.
Excel is an excellent product - but the full range of functionality is accessed by only a handful of users. For most users, what Google offer is more than enough and makes the content much more accessible, again why invest in the software, hardware and staff to manage a Sharepoint server when Google can offer all the necessary functionality?
And those custom business apps have already been re-written on the web!
How many businesses don't have a web presence now? We have APIs coming out of our eyeballs, we connect the back-end of our web site to several hundred different suppliers and it's been like that for over 5 years.
You know all that custom software banks tellers needed to manage money transfers ... you can do those online now
Now, I am not necessarily expecting a vast swathes of large companies with established infrastructure to suddenly switch over from Exchange (although some certainly have) and I know there are a large number of applications and legacy systems that need to be kept alive.
However, there are thousands of small and medium sized business that simply don't need the overhead of managing that complexity when Google do a good enough job for a hell of a lot less, and it means their key IT staff can spend their time working on those critical systems and servers that directly serve the business rather than supporting and maintain the basic communication systems.
Oh and, yes, they are supported and if I want to use a VM, I'll fire one up on EC2.
Anyone know if it'll be 64-bit? If not, I'm not interested. And yes, I know that browsers don't need to address huge RAM. 64-bit apps on Snow Leopard get inherently better security for some boring technical reasons I won't go into. And a browser is the most internet-facing exploit-exposed thing most of us run.
Anything that relies heavily on Javascript will get a big speed boost. Chrome came into existence because Google couldn't rely on anyone else to provide a sufficiently high performance JS implementation. Gone will be the days of your whole browser stopping because one tab or window is chock full of sluggish js.
Lust....
Man, I really want that theme.... is it somewhere online? or maybe you can share?
Man, I really want that theme.... is it somewhere online? or maybe you can share?
Just another Linux distro
I have Chrome OS on an old laptop. Had it for a few weeks now. It's just another Linux distro. It seems fine for what it is but is nothing special. Kind of like Ubuntu or some of the others. It has the dull ugly icons just like most distros too. Apple has nothing to worry about from Chrome OS. On the other hand, the Droid and other Android phones will take away some iPhone sales but they still lack the feel and undeniable "cool factor" of iPhone. I was looking at a Droid tonight at Wal-Mart. It is kind of clunky and ugly. I'm sure it is plenty functional but most people want looks too. The droid looks better in pictures than in person. I predict there will be an initial surge in Android phone sales and then it will level off and definitely won't "take over
...(coming from a fellow Mac guy).
Some of you have responded with 'Cool'.
Google are about to launch a massive broadside against the Mac. Just as Android is now the gorilla in the room against the iPhone. (First friends, now enemies.)
People falsely believe Google are targetting Microsoft, when in fact, few established businesses trust anyone but Microsoft, but the young and creative do love and trust Google. If hardware vendors produce stylish technologically advanced devices at 1/2 to 1/3rd of the price of Apple hardware, Apple are going to have problems a year from now.
Don't ignore the fact that the not to stylish but very versatile (and open) DROID from Motorola sold 100,000 units in it's first few days. And there is nothing to stop anyone porting the apps that made the iPhone popular across to Android.
Remember, people purchase items for SOLUTIONS, and the second a low cost Google OS laptop and/or desktop appears that can 'run' robust productivity suites and applications, Apple are going to suddenly be left with some obsolete over priced hardware.
For example, imagine a nice 24" desktop machine for £400 ($600). Or a 15" touch screen laptop for a similar amount.
All that can stop this wil be the (Apple) tablet. If it is flexible enough to act as a web centric and desktop centric device, then coupled with an optional wireless keyboard and competitive pricing, it could hold off Google OS.
I have Chrome OS on an old laptop. Had it for a few weeks now. It's just another Linux distro. It seems fine for what it is but is nothing special. Kind of like Ubuntu or some of the others. It has the dull ugly icons just like most distros too. Apple has nothing to worry about from Chrome OS. On the other hand, the Droid and other Android phones will take away some iPhone sales but they still lack the feel and undeniable "cool factor" of iPhone. I was looking at a Droid tonight at Wal-Mart. It is kind of clunky and ugly. I'm sure it is plenty functional but most people want looks too. The droid looks better in pictures than in person. I predict there will be an initial surge in Android phone sales and then it will level off and definitely won't "take over
I recently heard, first hand from an MS employee, that all chairs throughout the headquarters have been bolted firmly to the floor,
as of October 1st. Google Docs seem sweet, as does Chrome - looking forward to the next interview with SB regarding 'cloud computing.'
Google is insignificant://: repeat daily.
You haven't tried Camino 2 RC have you? Far better than Safari IMO.
It's like Firefox but optimized for OS X, doesn't use a lot of resources, uses Mac specific features (I.E. Macbook Touchpad).
The only bad thing about it is the lack of add-ons.
Get the theme here...
https://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en/themes/index.html
It is toward the bottom on the right. Labeled "Chuck Anderson"
Man, I really want that theme.... is it somewhere online? or maybe you can share?
https://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en/themes/index.html
It is toward the bottom on the right. Labeled "Chuck Anderson"
Get from here nice an easy.
http://imattic.co.uk/google-chrome
Both the stable build and chromium build in one dmg. Check it out.
http://imattic.co.uk/google-chrome
Both the stable build and chromium build in one dmg. Check it out.
I am using it right now ( 2 b4) and seems better than firefox. I like the favicons in tabs but I don't like their appearance and the scroll speed using touchpad.
Something that makes a huge difference for me is when you type an address, Safari/Chrome autocompletes and you only have to press ENTER instead of DOWN and ENTER.
It's a matter of preference. I still prefer Safari or Chrome. Having more browsers is better anyways. If it wasn't for competition, we'll still be using IE crap.
Those days are already long gone if you don't use IE. On-the-fly compilers for JavaScript were not invented by Google, you know.
As a matter of fact I have used Google Docs quite extensively in one project, because it was nice way to share a few documents everyone was supposed to edit.
Calling it "an effective replacement for Exchange" (sic!) shows that you have no idea whatsoever about Exchange, Office or anything corporate at all. Exchange of all things!!! Maybe you are referring to Google Calendar or Mail, which have nothing to do with Google Docs, except that their were created by Google. But since when do people calculate and write letters with Exchange?
Sharepoint? Who needs Sharepoint? You make it sound as if that were a necessity. Most companies are fine have the files on a file server and managing access rights via the file system. _Especially_ the small companies you are referring to below. I agree that having your documents online accessible for anyone has its benefits. The way it is done by Google Docs may be applicable for small groups, but when we're talking big companies, the ones that actually benefit from Sharepoint, the Docs approach is simply unusable. The rights management is basic and unusable for large groups. Not even mentioning the fact that you can't store big documents online without a massive performance penalty. Oh and you be the one explaining to top management, that all their secret documents are now supposed to be stored on a Google server.
About functionality. Excel is a good example for a product that is actually used to a fuller extent very often! While Word is often used only marginally because typing a simple letter is a task a lot of people at home are doing as well, spreadsheets are an inherently business-oriented matter. Yes I know, Excel is abused as a database in many cases, but people do like their complex calculations too. Not everyone might need all the bells and whistles, but you might be surprised how often the more complex analytic functions are used.
You must be joking. What exactly have custom business apps used INSIDE a company to do with their web presence? NOTHING.
Yeah, the only problem is that custom apps most often don't use any APIs apart from windows APIs and maybe .NET. Both of them are not available on other platforms (no, you can't just run a .NET application using Mono)
In the recent years, web applications have gained some ground, but that doesn't make all those other apps disappear that have been in place for a decade or longer.
And what about productivity applications like Access, Photoshop, Outlook? Are you saying that companies should not only migrate their desktop OSes but at the same time their email clients, databases, custom apps AND productivity tools?
This is impossible for ALL companies, not just the big ones. Small companies also need to get their work done, and if systems fail during a complex transition and people need to be trained, that is not possible.
You are living in a very non-corporate world!
Yeah right, EC2 VMs.. with productivity apps running inside them for all your client PCs with what access exactly to your server? And who's paying the Windows licenses and manages the Windows users and .... Jeeez ....
The threat this presents to Apple is that people looking to switch from Windows will now have another option. How much driver support and software support it will receive remains to be seen, but Google's name behind it might lead to it being amongst the better supported flavours of Linux. That and the fact that Apple don't provide a low cost portable Mac which many switchers will desire. Of course I'm sure you will argue that Apple don't want those customers anyway, if they aren't prepared to pay the fees to join the Apple club.
Is that a joke?
I use Google Docs as a full replacement of Microsoft Word. I do not use Microsoft Word or Apple Pages at all, anymore. This is because with Google Docs you can edit or access from any computer with internet access, without a stupid flash drive. If you accidentally drop your laptop in a vat of hydrochloric acid, you don't have to worry about losing all your documents, plus, you can make a certain document a collaborative document. There isn't anything Google Docs can't do that Microsoft Word can do that actually serves any purpose.
Google pioneered the use of separate processes per tab, meaning the whole browser window didn't freeze because one page being viewed was JS heavy and therefore improving performance. Safari still suffers from this problem, so these days are certainly not long gone at all.Speedy2 said:
Google Apps includes all of these components - it is a communication infrastructure made up of Mail, Calendar, Docs, Video and Sites. They are very close indeed and all part of Google's corporate offering. By isolating single features (like Docs) you are not seeing the wood for the trees.
Actually, this tends to be one of the easier sells, especially when you point out the investment required for internal security to reach a comparable level, the hardware and software costs and staff, training and consultancy fees. On top of that, the fact that for many companies their data and servers are outside their immediate physical control anyway (i.e. run in one of a large number of data centres / hosting companies) usually gets the point across. Top management do actually understand some of these concepts when clearly explained, they generally have the positions they do because they listen to well reasoned arguments.
And how often a simply summary is all that the analyst needs to present to the management for comment...
Well, I have already given your the banking example, but I will give you another simple example to be clear. A few years ago, to book a flight you had to go to a travel agent who would have some custom software that let them search flight times, destination, schedules and allow the integration necessary to take payment and make a reservation. Today, that same functionality is made available directly to the customer, through the web site, or to partners and affiliates through web-exposed APIs (e.g. all that SOAP/REST/XML stuff).
I don't know exactly what is coming in Chrome OS, it will take a while to mature and I certainly agree there will still be need for many of the existing apps. I just think you have really missed the point in what Google are offer by the way you talk about Docs and don't see the connection to Exchange or Sharepoint.
Focusing on the core competencies rather than trying to do everything themselves makes companies more efficient. There is no point investing in becoming an expert in something that someone else can do better and for less (in this case, communications infrastructure). Systems are less likely to fail if they are run by someone who is an expert in that field.
In my view, most business hinges on getting the right people talking to each other, bringing sellers and buyers together, matching what the customer wants demand with supply. Anything that allows them to do that more easily will improve their bottom line, although many of them simply don't recognise something like Google Apps that is a big step forward (in an area where established MS technology / process has dominated).
Effecting change by getting people to understand technology and see that there is a better way is indeed a challenge ... as you have nicely demonstrated