As our economy continues to make computers the successor to the automobile, we are watching a true war unfold. Microsoft versus Google. Windows versus Chrome. If this is Greek to you then give it a rest. It probably will make no difference. Those of us who live online, however, will take at least a mild interest.
Here are my Chrome thoughts, based on very casual use of the Chrome browser, free from Google. My usual browser is Firefox.The most important thing to me, with my poor eyesight, is for my blog to display properly. To achieve this I need to hit control and plus a few times to enlarge the type. When I do this in Firefox the site fits on the screen, When I do it in chrome it floats off to the right and that is a no no. It zaps Chrome for me.
There is another issue. No one can function without Bookmarks or Favorotes, the links you always click on to get somewhere. Some of these links you would not include on your blog so there is no fix there. With Chrome you access Bookmarks not directly but from a somewhat obscure drop down menu. It is not readily apparent that, even if you try to use this element of Chrome, you can easily replicate imported bookmarks. If I were grading Chrome for usability, I would give it several demerits for being somewhat careless .
In Chrome’s defense, I should mention that there is a considerable menu enabling you to set things up and I have little doubt that with a day or so of work I could have Chrome humming. But is it worth it. I am not totally in love with Firefox which is too intrusive for my taste and seems inured to ever more irrelevant (to me) bells and whistles. When I was at UNICEF I had to use IE and I still have to use it to view Netflix movies garnered from the Netflix site.
From a user’s perspective anything that works is the operative description. I will use whatever it takes and reserve the right to biases which may prove to be erroneous. Like everyone else I want what I want now and trust myself to find a way among the competing options.
I may even end up writing a stellar defense of Google Chrome, if it seems worth it to get the hang of it.
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One of the marquee aspects of Chrome is its incognito browsing window which enables one to go to sites you don’t want anyone to know you are going to — read gambling and porn. Well, Firefox has seen the light and just come out with private browsing. The problem with this is that if you read the Chrome disclaimer, the security you might be getting seems compromised by all sorts of other dangers lurking in the wings. Here is the text you see.
You’ve gone incognito. Pages you view in this window won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however.
Going incognito doesn’t affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:
- Websites that collect or share information about you
- Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
- Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
- Surveillance by secret agents
- People standing behind you
