Google / Chrome / Flasho to

I have been considering installing Google Chrome. I am concerned that it is not available directly from the openSUSE repository. I’m also concerned about the version of Flash that comes with it.

Google has a really bad reputation for snooping. The browser is open source though. Has anyone looked at the code to see if my concerns are real?

Adobe has had some real problems too. What about them?

Their site states they (google AND adobe) have the right to update the software WITHOUT even notifying me that they’re doing it! Honestly, that scares me!

I’ve addressed this before but, Konqueror is fast, looks really good but won’t display video content reliably. I use it most of the time though. Firefox seems more robust but looks terrible even though I tried to change it. It is S L O W ! The same can be said for Epiphany and Sea Monkey. Opera looks quite good but is also slow and I just can’t seem to get a handle on their cookie use.

That’s why I am considering Chrome.

Thoughts? Advice?

Bart

Chromium can be found here
Index of /repositories/openSUSE:/11.3:/Contrib/standard

What’s up with Firefox or Seamonkey

I am using chromium (the Linux derived version of chrome) for the last several months and I am quite happy with it.

They are both very much slower than Konqueror, and the end result is not nearly as nice looking as Konqueror. I suppose with enough effort, I could get the looks acceptable, but the speed is a problem. I have little patience.

Specifically, FF sits with the "looking up xxxx.xxx for each location, for several seconds. With all the doubleclick type PITA places it’s taking so long, I often caancel the load. [rant] why does it take 400 items to display a web page? [/rant] That’s not the browser’s fault, but konq, by eliminating a lot of the delay is significantly faster.

Perhaps I should just start another thread and try to fix the problems I have with konq.

If I install Chromium from the repo you offer, should I add it to the yast repositories or download the rpms and install from there? If I add the repository, should I leave it active in violation of the “4 repos” rule?

Bart

Chrome uses the same Flashplayer as Firefox so the update issues are the same. However with Chrome you can view HTML5 videos from YouTube instead of using Flash. Adobe is a real problem but a necessary evil so I try to minimise my viewing of Flash sites.

Chromium is Chrome without the stats reporting to Google.

Note that if you are logged into any kind of Google account while surfing, it’s trivial to correlate your Google searches with your identity. Similarly for other sites with logins such as Yahoo, Facebook, etc. Therefore I usually logout when done with a site.

In fact if you are very paranoid, your should know that it’s fairly easy to geolocate your IP. Coupled with other hints, say your last name, or the kind of browser you use, a determined snoop could track you down to your home or your mobile.

Well, there’s a start! There’s a good reason to install Chromium!

Chromium is Chrome without the stats reporting to Google.

And, there’s another! Looking better all the time.

Note that if you are logged into any kind of Google account while surfing, it’s trivial to correlate your Google searches with your identity. Similarly for other sites with logins such as Yahoo, Facebook, etc. Therefore I usually logout when done with a site.

One of the reasons I don’t have a gmail or yahoo mail account. Nor facebook or any of the other “social” sites.

In fact if you are very paranoid, your should know that it’s fairly easy to geolocate your IP. Coupled with other hints, say your last name, or the kind of browser you use, a determined snoop could track you down to your home or your mobile.

It’s not if your paranoid, it’s are you paranoid enough? When I’m rested and alert, I kind of enjoy the challange of using the internet. But when I’m tired or just want to get something done, it becomes disgusting.

Thanks for the information, thanks for the effort and thanks so much for the reminders!