Note: See the comments section regarding the change in the EULA.
As I posted at PHPBuilder.com, Ghrome, Google’s entry into the browser wars, now has a beta version available for public download (Windows XP/Vista only, for now).
My initial impression is that it works just fine and seems pretty “peppy”. For me it has one bug so far: I cannot scroll up via the touchpad on my notebook PC, though it scrolls down just fine. (I’ve submitted a bug report on it, and it appears others have had the same problem.)
Inasmuch as Google is going to all the trouble of creating their own browser in order to help make money, I have a few initial reservations as to how interested I might be in ever using it as my primary browser. Presumably one of the reasons they want to provide their own browser is to avoid having Google Ads blocked by other browsers — in particular it’s suggested that IE8 will have ad-blocking abilities that could be a threat to them. Additionally, the Chrome EULA (end user license agreement) is quite large (compare it to the Firefox EULA) and cedes quite a few rights to Google. For instance, Section 11.1 states:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which 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 license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license 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.
Now whether viewing a web page via Chrome is considered to be “submitting, posting or displaying the content” and thus will “give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute” that content is unclear to me (not being a lawyer), but it does give me pause to think when considering using Chrome to view something such as a bank statement.
Ultimately, I think for it to succeed Google will have to clear up any such privacy issues. Also, they will have to convince me that they won’t be adding any obtrusive Google advertisements to content and other marketing mechanisms that would get in my way of just viewing the desired web content.
