The First Look On Google Chrome Browser

The download is available at code.google.com/p/chromium/ (which is the main site; actual download is at http://www.google.com/chrome. The link went live at 12 PM PDT.

For those wondering, as I was, how the comic came about, Google said:

Scott McCloud is "a legend in the comic world," and has handled complex topics. He was "embedded with the team."

After trying it out for just a short while (a very short while), here are some impressions:

* It's pretty sparse, meaning it functions well as a browser, but some of the niceties I like about Firefox are missing (such as ad blocking, tab sessions, and the like).

* Oh, come on: double-click to close a tab should at least be an option.

* Incognito windows (AKA private browsing, AKA porn mode) are available.

* Did I mention no ad blocking (of course, there are 3rd-party blockers that work as proxy servers that would work).

* For the life of me, I didn't realize how much I would miss the lack of a "Home" button to take me to my Home page.

* Check out the way a new tab looks (click the logo above). The program will "learn" your favorite sites and put them as shortcuts in a new tab. Pretty cool, though I'd like the option to override that if I want.

* It's fast. How much of that is the lack of bloat due to the relative barebones-ness, though? Will all that speed disappear as Chrome becomes more feature-laden?

* The Omnibox is much like Firefox 3's Awesome bar, but Tab-to-Search (which allows you to type a site name and then a search term) is pretty cool.

* I'd like some 3rd-party toolbar support, such as (for me) the oft-used Roboform.

Clearly, Google still has plenty of work to do. But as a first cut (not even sure I'd call it a beta) it's decent.

Any readers out there have some comments if already using Chrome?

Reported by Tech Ex