Is it time to move to Chrome?

[gvstn]

I've avoided Chrome because it is one more thing giving Google a ton of information about me. But I am finding that several of my must-have FF addons are no longer being developed as their developers have moved to Chrome. I had been blaming it on using the Nightly build but that isn't really the primary cause. I saw this http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp statistic that states that Chrome is now the dominant browser by a wide margin. If this is true then it may be time to move to Chrome. I have a couple of questions:

1) Does Chrome have a comparably large extension base to FF and are most extensions free? (I can research this myself but am curious as to current users' impressions)

2) If I were to install Chrome rather than use the portable versions (on which I am experimenting) I would use one of the alternative versions that keep less private data such as Iron. Is Iron robustly developed or are their similar alternatives that are growing faster than Iron.

I really appreciate any thoughts or experiences.

[hunter]

1. I'm still fond of Opera.

http://www.opera.com

I think it depends on what your "must have" addons are.

I have a bunch of browsers installed on my Linux system. For me the most important features of a browser are the "must NOT haves." Google's chrome is full of these "must not haves" so I use the entirely Open Source Chromium build if I'm not using Opera:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_%28web_browser%29

I don't use the commercial build:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome

First off, Adobe Plugins are one of my "must NOT haves." It makes some sites unusable to me, but that's their loss, not mine. Other sites it's just a minor irritation. Most YouTube content comes through fine via HTML5, maybe one time in ten I'll get the black screen adobe plugin message. Oh well. Personally the only thing that occasionally irritates me is my inability to see BBC news videos unless I want to do some less-than-honest hacking and I don't. If people don't want me to see their content because I refuse to use Adobe products, well fine. I won't see their content.

For windows systems there's not such a wide world of options in browsers or little tweaks that allow one to save content, filter incoming streams, or branch out to other apps and applets.

A similar browser to Iron is Comodo Dragon.

http://www.comodo.com/home/browsers-toolbars/browser.php

According to wikipedia this is what these chromium-based browsers don't have:

• RLZ identifier, an encoded string sent together with all queries to Google[13] or once every 24 hours.
  
  
• Google search access on startup for users with Google as default search[13][14]
  
  
• A unique ID ("clientID&quot for identifying the user in logs.
  
  
• A timestamp of when the browser was installed.
  
  
• Google-hosted error pages when a server is not present
  
  
• Google Updater automatic installation.
  
  
• DNS pre-fetching, because it could potentially be used by spammers.[15]
  
  
• Automatic address bar search suggestions.
  
  
• Bug tracking system, sends information about crashes or errors.
  

Privacy is not such a huge issue for me as having a computer I own do what I want it to do.

[gvstn]

2. Thanks for your input.

Interestingly, I just came across this reddit thread http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1hf4jh/firefox_beats_chrome_in_performance_for_the_first/

And only reading the first 300 "Best" comments most people that use addons to customize their browser still prefer FF. Perhaps I am being premature? I was just shocked that Chrome had 50% of the browser market. I think I will stick with FF and the portable version of Iron for now. Comodo and Iron seem to be about equal from my previous research (by research I mean 30 minute googling/reading). I'll definitely try Chromium and Comodo before doing a full install.

I have run Linux 100's of times off CD/USB but find when I install it that I still eventually go back to Windows. Same deal there are little programs in Windows that I use often and do what I need so I avoid the chore of getting truly used to a new system. I experimented more vigorously when I was younger but haven't really put in much effort to refresh myself on the basics of the necessary Linux commands to really be able to customize.

One more question on Youtube problems. I've noticed for about 1-2 months most Youtube videos play fine for 1/3 of video then buffer for 5-10-20 minutes before beginning to play through the rest of the way. The same 1/3 point for almost every video. Only on Youtube not other streaming sites. I don't understand HTML5 but my flash is up to date. Is there a setting that could be checked? I've seen enough threads even here at DU that I think it is a Youtube bandwith problem rather than my individual computer.

Thanks again for your informative post.

Although I am going to stick with FF a bit longer, I'd be interested in any Chrome fans telling me why they have switched from FF to Chrome.

[hunter]

3. My first "real" operating system was BSD.

The last Windows I used on my home computers was 98SE.

Linux was like coming home. This colors my perspective. All the "little programs" I used were BSD and they are all here in Linux.

In the 'seventies I wrote an entire science fiction novel using vi and it's still here a few clicks away on my desktop.

My old computers are on my desktop too except for the first computer I built using telephone relays which won me an "honorable mention" in the science fair. Later that same machine "talked" using a modified tape player. It would fast forward or rewind the tape to the appropriate prerecorded message. I haven't got an emulator for that but it would be trivial to build it using pygame, relay sounds and all. I love the sound of relays.

My first and second entirely electronic home brew computers used an 1802 processor. I have those machines emulated on my desktop. Sadly, the original hardware 1802 processor has failed. It was a factory second to begin with. My girlfriend sold some of my code to the Military Industrial Complex and she's still in that business thus we avoid one another, even pretending the few times as we've crossed paths not to recognize one another. Awkward as hell, those "I've seen you naked" moments. But that wasn't the fatal error in our relationship. Mostly it was that she'd pick up these girl-waifs and have wild sex with them but never with me. Hey, I was a waif too when she found me. I just happened to have dangly bits acceptable to her parents but not to her.

About the same time I was crazy about the Atari 800 and making a living tending Apple II school computer labs. I used to be able to write 6502 machine code in hex. But that knowledge, along with the binomial names of California plants (I was studying botany for a time) seems to have evaporated. Still I've got all my old Atari and Apple stuff on my desktop.

[gvstn]

4. Ha!

I thought vi was the best thing since sliced bread. Imagine being able to type out a "paper", correct your mistakes, use some cool indents and "bullet" points just by learning a few formatting commands and then getting a perfect printed copy with no white-out.
My original interest in Linux was that I would be able to use my Unix commands at home. But with dialup keeping current with updates was far too frustrating. And Vi wasn't part of RedHat or other commercially available CDs at the time; so my interest waned. Now some dumb alt-codes satisfy my advanced formatting techniques. Or when feeling particularly non-conformist some dumb emojicons :shrug or ¯\_( ツ )_/¯

My one complaint with all "advances" with computers was the invention of the mouse. I thought it was the most ridiculous thing imaginable to make someone take their hands off the keyboard to move the mouse a few inches and then go back to the keyboard. I couldn't believe it took off. Now, 20 years later, I have been acclimated and can't remember but a few keyboard shortcuts for my life. I think I read, several months ago, that there was a new push to get rid of mouse movements all together. That should be interesting to see how that is accomplished after training everyone so well.

Thanks for reminding me of vi. I do have to say Word is a decent word processing program. Edit: Wait a second after writing all that vi wasn't word processing that was Scribe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribe_%28markup_language%29

vi was just a screen based OS where you needed to type something like ! to execute a real command via the command shell. I don't remember doing any actual editing of documents in vi. You did that in the '70s? I played a little with vi in the early 80's but didn't really see the point (Then again I didn't see the point in MS Windows which just came out either.) I always preferred the command line but back then they actually provided you with a book that described all the possible commands and didn't say "Our system is so intuitive you don't need a book so we will save the money on documentation" Ugh! That was the death knell of getting everything possible out of an OS--Not being able to read up on all the possibilities in an actual book.

I'm starting to sound old and cranky, I better quit. ლ (╹◡╹ლ )

[CK_John]

5. Google seems to turn on a dime, too often for me to count on any single product to around tomorrow.

[hunter]

6. Chrome can't be discontinued, it's an open source project, not a "product."

The core component, Webkit, began as an open source project, was adopted by apple and then google, but it's not a "product" that can be discontinued by corporate fiat.

The code belongs to the world, anyone can use it, anyone can support it. The only thing google owns is the trademarked names and artwork.

Microsoft could discontinue Internet Explorer tomorrow and it would be tough cookies for anyone who wanted to continue using it. The software would stop evolving, fewer and fewer people would use it, and it would rapidly fade away.

But WebKit based browsers will continue to evolve whether or not Apple and Google are supporting them.

A list of browsers using WebKit is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_browsers#WebKit-based

WebKit based browsers are not going away, they have in fact "won" the browser wars for now.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

7. Love Chrome

1) Yes
2) I don't know

[StanGr]

8. No, no, no, no, and no. Did I mention NO?