I couldn’t resist a little Harley humor on this one. But this post has nothing to do with motorcycles. It’s all about the new Google Chrome browser released today. I set aside my irrational fear of multiple browsers (for a few moments at least) and as you can guess, I plunged directly into the download. I generally love something or I hate it (uninstalling almost as fast as I installed the lackluster program.). But Chrome has me in a state of confusion - I like it - and I don’t.

Follow up:

It’s fast and lightweight (on my system at least) and doesn’t tax my memory usage nearly as much as IE or Firefox. In fact, it’s only running at about one quarter (32K) of IE’s typical usage (on a good IE day that is). And I love the ability to drop my Google apps (gmail, google notebooks, and google calendar) directly on my desktop (or start menu, or quick launch). The link to my email just pops straight up no wait at all. Though these apps launch directly - not in a browser window - but I kinda like that. The interface is nice and clean, no real qualms there. The import of bookmarks and passwords was simple and flawless from what I’ve seen.

But - and this is a big one - I can’t launch Yahoo games. It says there is no plugin to support them. A little investigation shows I might be able to get around this by downloading the latest Beta version of Java 6 RC 10 but it’s listed as possibly unstable. And honestly, I don’t feel like downloading Java only to find my games don’t work on Chrome or IE. Yes, I know, I know, I could uninstall Java if it does not work, but I am simply not in the mood to pursue it right now. A quick look at Filehippo and this release candidate for Java isn’t even listed yet. So I think I may hold off at least a few days and research it one a little more before taking that particular plunge. I also miss my textual toolbar, but I suppose I can get used to that with a little time. I also don’t see a way to "not" block pop-ups, though if you change your "Google Gears" you can allow various sites.

So, until they work out a few kinks I don’t think this will become my primary browser. But I’m going to keep it and give it a fair shot for awhile.