Google’s new browser, Chrome, is little more than three days old, but it has already caused the internet to be awash with comment, tips and controversy. That should come as no surprise to anyone who follows Google’s activities, with even the slightest bit of interest.
There are three main factors that have repeatedly hit the headlines, they are the EULA (End User License Agreement) / Terms of Service, the capability of Google Chrome to run software applications using it’s V8 JavaScript engine and security.
Terms of Service
In the past many eyebrows have been raised about the way Google handles personal data and the release of Google Chrome has not disappointed. In the fine print of Chrome’s (original) licensing agreement was the following clause:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content, you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
If you didn’t get that the first time, it basically means Google has the potential to use any copyrighted material posted to the internet via Chrome without any kind of accreditation to the copyright owner. The language of the clause was very quickly picked up by people who study this kind of thing and was changed by Google to something much more accommodating:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights that you already hold in Content that you submit, post or display on or through the Services.
The full Terms of Service can be viewed here
JavaScript Engine
I don’t pretend to know much about the inner workings of a JavaScript engine, but I do understand the principles of what Google is hoping to achieve with it.
The term “in the clouds” has been coined to refer to the practice of running software applications via the internet and storing spreadsheets and other documentation on a server rather than the hard drive of a PC or laptop. Chrome has been designed with this in mind and will allow Google to further develop online applications and promote it’s Google Docs service, which contains a free web based spreadsheet and word processor creator/editor and a place to store documentation to enable access from anywhere.
Google Docs allows many people to work on a document and see changes made by anyone else who has access in real time and is becoming a real threat to similar Microsoft Office applications.
Chrome could be a precursor to a dramatic shift in the way we use computers and the internet. A computer could become just a way to access the internet and every function previously performed by specific programs could be performed through a browser with the results stored on remote server or “in the clouds”.
Online Security
While Chrome is brand new and still in beta mode I have no intention of using it to log onto my bank account. I have found a post which tells me exactly why I shouldn’t be doing so.
In brief, pages that appear behind the HTTPS/SSL encryption are being cached by Chrome and can be found by searching Chrome’s history through the Omnibox. The consequences for people who share a PC at a work place and who access private information do not need to be outlined!
…open up Chrome and log in to your favorite financial website. Like most important sites, it should be protected with HTTPS/SSL encryption and that should be evident in the address bar of the browser. Do the stuff you would normally do like look at your balances and gawk at your latest transactions and then open up a new tab in Chrome by clicking the “+” symbol. In the right-hand history search box, enter a few keywords and see what they get you. Surprised? I bet you are.
This has got to be at the top of Chrome’s “TO DO” list if it is to be taken seriously by the mass market. The Guradian has already mentioned it so it won’t be long before the sun (deliberately lower case and no link) and it’s peers do too.
The brand of Google is so strong I have no doubts that Chrome will be a success. Almost the entire population of the world uses Google to search. A simple link underneath the search box proclaiming the value of Chrome could initiate millions of installs.
Unlike Firefox, Google has a market it can target without spending a penny on advertising. Google doesn’t have to come to any kind of deal with Microsoft to bundle Chrome with Windows (as if), it can use it’s existing interface to communicate with the world.
Once the add ons have been developed I can see only one winner in the so called browser war, and it isn’t blue and it isn’t cute.
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