8 ms·

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser

48 points by mqt 18y ago

apu 18y ago
This is something I hadn't noticed in the earlier postings about this browser: "By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites." While the other features of the browser are hard to judge without active usage, this one is huge. Firefox, for all its virtues, is still too much like early 90's operating systems -- not enough separation between processes (tabs). In fact, since the browser is now the de-facto OS for a large variety of applications, it makes sense for browser writers to consciously design it as such. This means not repeating mistakes made in the OS world (mistakes such as not running processes in their own protected memory space, or using cooperative multitasking instead of preemptive, etc.) Also, while firebug plays its role as gdb-for-the-web admirably, we're still in need of some os-monitoring tools: top, free, and some tools to more closely look at memory usage. With the increasing number of high-quality browsers, I'm hoping at least some of them will make this realization and push in the right direction.
- unalone 18y ago
  A commenter elsewhere said that IE8 does this, and that it's worked wonders. Can anybody confirm that?
  - aneesh 18y ago
    Yes. ars technica reviewed IE8: "Running a tab in its own process allows that tab to crash (for any reason) without disrupting any other tab." http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-ie8-beta-2-getting-heavy-performance-crash-recovery-tweaks.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-ie8-beta-2-get...
    - unalone 18y ago
      Good. I'm glad to see Microsoft actually trying new things. I dislike their design team as-is, but I at least like remembering that they're talented, if disagreeable.
bootload 18y ago
"... We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust. ..." Yeah great strategic move. If you start developing exclusively in the G-sandpit will this restrict any sale of an application/startup?
- litewulf 18y ago
  Just as much as developing solely for IE. Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device!
  - bootload 18y ago
    "... Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device! ..." Keep your emotions in check, ad hominem.
    - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
      ad hominem -- name-calling to discredit the speaker's argument. I could care less about your thread, but ad hominem wasn't in there. At least from where I could see. He didn't personally attack you, he was surprised at your remarks.
      - bootload 18y ago
        "... Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device! ..." Can you explain the how this language adds to the discussion without resorting to ridicule? "... I could care less about your thread ..." Chrome has the potential to be just as closed as MS (bad), Apple because the real power is in who controls the commits. Do you have anything worthwhile to add about how Chrome could become another closed system?
        cglee 18y ago
volida 18y ago
if google books version is not opening for you http://gondwanaland.com.nyud.net/mlog/files/google-chrome-comic.pdf http://gondwanaland.com.nyud.net/mlog/files/google-chrome-co...
vaksel 18y ago
great now you'll have to test sites in Google also
- litewulf 18y ago
  except that its webkit and not OMG NEW BROWSER RENDERER!
litewulf 18y ago
Really really fast Javascript is game changing. Think about it. People always make fun of how our computers are thousands and millions of times faster than computers of yore and seem to do basically the same thing... except that my word processor has live spell checking, and so on and so forth. Speed is technology enabling. Being able to add features to your site that won't make it pathetically slow when it would have been previously is huge. Screw buzzwords, infrastructure is king. You are only as good as what lies beneath you.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
josefresco 18y ago
Considering today's gas prices, shouldn't they have called the new JS engine "Turbo V6" instead of "V8"? Lame joke I know ;)
fiaz 18y ago
Interesting possibilities for Google here to have a new type of googlebot driven by the user. All browser activities (voting, commenting, contextual browsing, content generation, etc.) can be wrapped up into a single place driven by a human being and then beamed over to Google for efficient indexing far and away more accurate than what any other bot could offer in years to come. What we need next is a "Google Personal Gateway" so that all of our connections to the internet can be monitored. Google could offer it out as a free virus/spam protection package but then have an even greater view of how people interact with the internet thus giving the consumer an enhanced internet experience. [please refrain from informing me about how Incognito will protect user information - so called "private browsing" is not a full/rich internet experience]
maxklein 18y ago
This is a smart move, and it's a step in the correct direction. The browser is an application platform but browsers have not truely caught up with this in the way the information is presented. The google browser screenshots seems to be the one that goes the furthest.

48 points by mqt 18y ago

apu 18y ago

This is something I hadn't noticed in the earlier postings about this browser: "By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites." While the other features of the browser are hard to judge without active usage, this one is huge. Firefox, for all its virtues, is still too much like early 90's operating systems -- not enough separation between processes (tabs). In fact, since the browser is now the de-facto OS for a large variety of applications, it makes sense for browser writers to consciously design it as such. This means not repeating mistakes made in the OS world (mistakes such as not running processes in their own protected memory space, or using cooperative multitasking instead of preemptive, etc.) Also, while firebug plays its role as gdb-for-the-web admirably, we're still in need of some os-monitoring tools: top, free, and some tools to more closely look at memory usage. With the increasing number of high-quality browsers, I'm hoping at least some of them will make this realization and push in the right direction.

unalone 18y ago
A commenter elsewhere said that IE8 does this, and that it's worked wonders. Can anybody confirm that?
- aneesh 18y ago
  Yes. ars technica reviewed IE8: "Running a tab in its own process allows that tab to crash (for any reason) without disrupting any other tab." http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-ie8-beta-2-getting-heavy-performance-crash-recovery-tweaks.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080731-ie8-beta-2-get...
  - unalone 18y ago
    Good. I'm glad to see Microsoft actually trying new things. I dislike their design team as-is, but I at least like remembering that they're talented, if disagreeable.

bootload 18y ago

"... We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust. ..." Yeah great strategic move. If you start developing exclusively in the G-sandpit will this restrict any sale of an application/startup?

litewulf 18y ago
Just as much as developing solely for IE. Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device!
- bootload 18y ago
  "... Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device! ..." Keep your emotions in check, ad hominem.
  - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
    ad hominem -- name-calling to discredit the speaker's argument. I could care less about your thread, but ad hominem wasn't in there. At least from where I could see. He didn't personally attack you, he was surprised at your remarks.
    - bootload 18y ago
      "... Good lord did you even think about what you just wrote? Its a browser, not a torture device! ..." Can you explain the how this language adds to the discussion without resorting to ridicule? "... I could care less about your thread ..." Chrome has the potential to be just as closed as MS (bad), Apple because the real power is in who controls the commits. Do you have anything worthwhile to add about how Chrome could become another closed system?
      - cglee 18y ago

volida 18y ago

if google books version is not opening for you http://gondwanaland.com.nyud.net/mlog/files/google-chrome-comic.pdf http://gondwanaland.com.nyud.net/mlog/files/google-chrome-co...

vaksel 18y ago

great now you'll have to test sites in Google also

litewulf 18y ago
except that its webkit and not OMG NEW BROWSER RENDERER!

litewulf 18y ago

Really really fast Javascript is game changing. Think about it. People always make fun of how our computers are thousands and millions of times faster than computers of yore and seem to do basically the same thing... except that my word processor has live spell checking, and so on and so forth. Speed is technology enabling. Being able to add features to your site that won't make it pathetically slow when it would have been previously is huge. Screw buzzwords, infrastructure is king. You are only as good as what lies beneath you.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

josefresco 18y ago

Considering today's gas prices, shouldn't they have called the new JS engine "Turbo V6" instead of "V8"? Lame joke I know ;)

fiaz 18y ago

Interesting possibilities for Google here to have a new type of googlebot driven by the user. All browser activities (voting, commenting, contextual browsing, content generation, etc.) can be wrapped up into a single place driven by a human being and then beamed over to Google for efficient indexing far and away more accurate than what any other bot could offer in years to come. What we need next is a "Google Personal Gateway" so that all of our connections to the internet can be monitored. Google could offer it out as a free virus/spam protection package but then have an even greater view of how people interact with the internet thus giving the consumer an enhanced internet experience. [please refrain from informing me about how Incognito will protect user information - so called "private browsing" is not a full/rich internet experience]

maxklein 18y ago

This is a smart move, and it's a step in the correct direction. The browser is an application platform but browsers have not truely caught up with this in the way the information is presented. The google browser screenshots seems to be the one that goes the furthest.