Comments on: UPDATE: Google Chrome: Good or evil? — GOOD!

By: Yuhong Bao

Yuhong Bao — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:57:44 +0000

nabiy: Apple does the same thing with Safari/WebKit.

By: rajendiran.m

rajendiran.m — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:07:47 +0000

Google chrome browser is the best browser in all.

By: nabiy

nabiy — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:13:33 +0000

The source code for Google’s Chrome Browser has never been released. Google uses the code from the open source browser Chromium in their proprietary browser Chrome. They can do this because the Chromium code is released under the BSD License. Clever marketing by Google. Google only offers Chrome in binary form (it’s closed source) and they only offer the source code (not the binary) for Chromium. If you want to use the open source browser Chromium you can download a binary at http://free-chrome.net

By: raphael

raphael — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:42:21 +0000

at what point is the world going to wake-up to the fact that google will eventually know everything about you.. with chrome your every movement on the internet can be tracked.

the logo reminds me of the all seeing “eye” of big brother

By: AttackingCitizens

AttackingCitizens — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:01:28 +0000

Very nice post check out my run down on the Google Chrome browser plus the exploits etc here http://attackingcitizen.blogspot.com/

By: Martin Geber

Martin Geber — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:50:38 +0000

Hey,

talking about good or evil: Does anyone consider the data exchange of Chrome with Google as evil? I actually do. Google know just too much right now. And how sure can I that Chrome really doesn’t communicate with Google at all.

I switched off the internet activity of Picasa and had to ban it AGAIN in my Firewall, as Picasa still wanted to go on-line.

Chrome must have access to the internet, so I can’t tell my Firewall to stop it… So, I guess this is reason, why I stay with my great Firefox!

Cheers and thanks for the post and comments
Martin

By: George Toms

George Toms — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:22:21 +0000

Google Chrome is really fast!
Now I can sort 200,000 records inside of Browser (Chrome) just in 1 sec. (Faster than Microsoft Excel):
http://www.ardentedge.com/ex_if.htm

By: asdf

asdf — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:27:36 +0000

If you don’t “get” why non-free is evil and think it’s more or less negotiable, then you probably don’t “get” why capitalism is evil and needs to be replaced with socialism.

But since that’s the dominant paradigm and we’ve all been indoctrinated by the propaganda from birth, it’s only to be expected. Educate yourself. Break the spell.

By: Protoscopic

Protoscopic — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:16:47 +0000

I think the “evilness” in question would have been if they made claims that it was going to be “free software” and didn’t make it so. Especially if you read the comic and all their explicit reference to doing so. I hadn’t heard anything about the source either and I think it’s perfectly valid to say “if they don’t follow through on their promise that is not ‘good’.” Especially if that turned out to be a “disingenuous” use of the term “Free Software.” Just because it turned out well doesn’t mean the point wasn’t valid. Worry about “GNU/Linux” vs “Linux” is just anal retentive though (at best).

By: sp

sp — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:29:41 +0000

Thanks to all of you for your input.

First to everyone pointing out that the source code is indeed available: I wrote the article when Google did not even mention the source code in any way, meaning before the Google Chrome release. I am going to update this article asap.

Now to measuring a company’s evilness by checking whether source code is available for a program. First of all, availability of source code alone is not enough. There are enough “just look, don’t touch” licenses out there that are a mess. The idea behind that was that if the source code is available under a Free Software license people can check and actually see what happens to their private data. The comment by “you are right” perfectly explains my point.

On to he idea of having a extension community: The idea is great, but Chrome/Chromium has just been released. I am expecting something similar to mozdev.org to appear at some point.