Google Chrome is, by many accounts, the world's most popular internet browser. It runs on many platforms, including Mac, Linux, and Windows, and offers tight integration of Google services (Drive, Gmail, Google+) Its rendering engine is sufficiently compatible with web technologies, and it passes benchmarks with flying colors. |
So what's not to like? Shouldn't such a neat browser be default in Newt OS?
Google Chrome does a poor job of managing the resources it requires. Take these test results for instance: On my Linux system, a Firefox window with 4 tabs open uses about 600 MB of RAM. In Chrome, those same 4 tabs take up 1 GB of RAM. This is due to Chrome's use of "process isolation." This essentially means that when you open a new tab in Chrome, it will start a new system process, instead of building on the existing process. This prevents a single tab freeze from crashing the whole browser. As a side effect, a significantly larger amount of memory is used. While it may have been a good idea in concept, in my experience, large memory usage and separate processes means that Chrome will become sluggish when switching between tabs.
Additionally, Google Chrome does not integrate into systems very well. Chromebooks necessarily have a PDF reader built into the browser, as well as a print dialogue. Additionally, Google services like Google Drive will attempt to cache data on your hard drive to allow for offline work. All of these features are great on a Chromebook, but on any other systems, they're just a big pain. Printing becomes tedious and sometimes impossible, and often conflicts with system dialogues. For these reasons, I deem Google Chrome to be a bloated browser with unnecessary features galore.
Newt OS aims to be a system that anyone can use comfortably. I've put significant thought into application choices, and I can't include software that will 1) integrate poorly with the rest of the OS and 2) will not be usable on low-end computers.
I have nothing against those who use Google Chrome. It is not an inherently bad browser, and it does have some nice features. However, I feel that alternatives such as Chromium, Opera, and Firefox surpass Chrome in both usability and efficiency.
What browser do you use? Leave a comment below.
~Newt
Additionally, Google Chrome does not integrate into systems very well. Chromebooks necessarily have a PDF reader built into the browser, as well as a print dialogue. Additionally, Google services like Google Drive will attempt to cache data on your hard drive to allow for offline work. All of these features are great on a Chromebook, but on any other systems, they're just a big pain. Printing becomes tedious and sometimes impossible, and often conflicts with system dialogues. For these reasons, I deem Google Chrome to be a bloated browser with unnecessary features galore.
Newt OS aims to be a system that anyone can use comfortably. I've put significant thought into application choices, and I can't include software that will 1) integrate poorly with the rest of the OS and 2) will not be usable on low-end computers.
I have nothing against those who use Google Chrome. It is not an inherently bad browser, and it does have some nice features. However, I feel that alternatives such as Chromium, Opera, and Firefox surpass Chrome in both usability and efficiency.
What browser do you use? Leave a comment below.
~Newt