I am a Safari user. I feel strongly that the WebKit rendering engine is the best platform available today. When Google announced that they would be making their own WebKit-based web browser named Chrome, I was interested. However, that interest dropped off right away. They only released the browser on Windows. That, to me, showcased where their priorities are. I understand that there are more Windows users, but there is plenty of competition in the browser market. As a Mac user, I don’t want to be treated as a second-class citizen.
Google has been slowly releasing builds of their developer releases (AKA Chromium) for the Mac. This week, they released the very first public beta for Mac OS X. They are certainly taking their sweet time, but we’re finally seeing some substantial progress. At this point, it is pretty usable. There are only a few situations here and there where the browser decides to act up. I have been using the Chromium builds as my sole web browser for over a week now, and I’m not hating it. The beta, however, is substantially behind on the features. I love the Keychain integration and the separate processes for each tab. I admit without any hesitation that there are some great things about this browser. That said, it is fresh-from-the-womb new. Only time will tell how well things like themes and extensions will develop and bloom. The beta doesn’t even have the extensions implemented on the Mac yet. It could be amazing or a complete dud. I haven’t made up my mind yet.
In sum, Google’s Chromium builds and the Chrome Beta are a ton of fun to toy around with. If you’re enthusiastic about playing with new applications, give it a go. That said, don’t go jumping on any bandwagons. There is a lot of work left to be completed.
Photo Credit: Jill Clardy
December 9, 2009
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