Sage advice for the new Mac switcher

[amanda.a.p]

I made the switch recently and this post was super great and informative, though I must say one of the first things I did after trying Safari was download Chrome, my Windows standby... very satisfied with iLife though

[chas_m]

Thanks, Amanda.

I have personal misgivings about Chrome due to privacy concerns w/Google -- but if you find, after giving Safari a try, that you like Chrome better, by all means use it. This goes for Firefox lovers and Flock fans and Camino enthusiasts and Opera buffs as well. It's all good.

[amanda.a.p]

Thanks, Amanda.

I have personal misgivings about Chrome due to privacy concerns w/Google -- but if you find, after giving Safari a try, that you like Chrome better, by all means use it. This goes for Firefox lovers and Flock fans and Camino enthusiasts and Opera buffs as well. It's all good.

I wasn't aware of this... what sort of privacy concerns?

[chas_m]

Chrome has been described as "a data-mining tool disguised as a browser."

It assigns a unique ID to each copy and tracks what you do with it and reports this back to Google. Since most people using Chrome inevitably "sign in" to some Google service (like GMail for example), that browser ID is then easily matched to a specific person.

Now, I am not a conspiracy-minded alarmist who believes that Google is stalking you or anything like that -- they are fairly open about what they want to do with the personal data they collect on people, even if they're not particularly candid about how they go about it.

But I find it very troubling to be tracked to the extent that Google does it via Chrome.

For that reason, I've stuck with Safari, though I have also used a privacy-enhanced version of Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome) called Iron so I can check compatibility and such. I personally find that Safari more than meets my needs, is more than fast enough (even if it's not "the fastest") and now with extensions has become a fresh new experience I thoroughly enjoy using, but I keep a copy of FF, Camino and Iron around for grins.

[amanda.a.p]

Chrome has been described as "a data-mining tool disguised as a browser."

It assigns a unique ID to each copy and tracks what you do with it and reports this back to Google. Since most people using Chrome inevitably "sign in" to some Google service (like GMail for example), that browser ID is then easily matched to a specific person.

Now, I am not a conspiracy-minded alarmist who believes that Google is stalking you or anything like that -- they are fairly open about what they want to do with the personal data they collect on people, even if they're not particularly candid about how they go about it.

But I find it very troubling to be tracked to the extent that Google does it via Chrome.

For that reason, I've stuck with Safari, though I have also used a privacy-enhanced version of Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome) called Iron so I can check compatibility and such. I personally find that Safari more than meets my needs, is more than fast enough (even if it's not "the fastest") and now with extensions has become a fresh new experience I thoroughly enjoy using, but I keep a copy of FF, Camino and Iron around for grins.

So, what kind of data is chrome collecting exactly? My passwords, my history? And what are they doing with it? You're making me want to switch, despite the speed...

[cwa107]

So, what kind of data is chrome collecting exactly? My passwords, my history? And what are they doing with it? You're making me want to switch, despite the speed...

Passwords, no. History, search terms, browsing habits, those sort of things. These data points paint a picture of how you use the Internet and help to target advertising to you. On the surface, it's pretty innocuous, but it's still more data than a lot of people like to give out.

Chrome is a fast browser, but when the difference in rendering speeds amount to tenths of a second, it's really not noticeable under normal conditions. Although both Safari and Chrome handily outpace Firefox, I actually think Firefox "feels" faster since it doesn't paint each individual element of page while it's loading. Instead, it just renders it and pops it up immediately.

I've struggled to find a single compelling reason to switch to Chrome. The interface is pretty awful, it lacks the useful add-on library of Firefox, and it doesn't handle RSS feeds all that well (well, to be fair, nothing does it as well as Firefox). In my view, it's yet-another-webkit-browser, and not exactly a spectacular one at that.

I'd love to hear some of the reasons that Mac users use Chrome. There's got to be something I'm just not seeing. Between WebKit browsers, I'd say Safari offers more polish and features. Personally, I use Firefox just because I'm used to it, I also like its in-page searching, gesture support and RSS feed handling.

[6string]

I've struggled to find a single compelling reason to switch to Chrome. The interface is pretty awful, it lacks the useful add-on library of Firefox, and it doesn't handle RSS feeds all that well (well, to be fair, nothing does it as good as Firefox). In my view, it's yet-another-webkit-browser, and not exactly a spectacular one at that.

I'd love to hear some of the reasons that Mac users use Chrome. There's got to be something I'm just not seeing. Between WebKit browsers, I'd say Safari offers more polish and features. Personally, I use Firefox just because I'm used to it, I also like its in-page searching, gesture support and RSS feed handling.

I second all of that

[amanda.a.p]

I'd love to hear some of the reasons that Mac users use Chrome. There's got to be something I'm just not seeing. Between WebKit browsers, I'd say Safari offers more polish and features. Personally, I use Firefox just because I'm used to it, I also like its in-page searching, gesture support and RSS feed handling.

Well, when I had Windows, Chrome was ten times faster than Safari for Windows and Firefox, and obviously the nightmare Microsoft likes to call internet explorer. It had a built in spell checker, and saved all of my passwords. The interface was clean and smooth, and the themes were great for eye candy. I fell in love with the browser
When I got my MacBook Pro, I used Safari for a couple minutes, then downloaded Chrome, and I just sort of fell into a pattern of clicking on Chrome instead of Safari. I suppose I should probably give Safari a fair shot on the osx operating system it was designed for... and I think I just might

[cwa107]

Well, when I had Windows, Chrome was ten times faster than Safari for Windows and Firefox, and obviously the nightmare Microsoft likes to call internet explorer. It had a built in spell checker, and saved all of my passwords. The interface was clean and smooth, and the themes were great for eye candy. I fell in love with the browser
When I got my MacBook Pro, I used Safari for a couple minutes, then downloaded Chrome, and I just sort of fell into a pattern of clicking on Chrome instead of Safari. I suppose I should probably give Safari a fair shot on the osx operating system it was designed for... and I think I just might

Might want to give the Mac version of Firefox a go too. IMHO, it makes Safari look like a tinkertoy. Make sure you get the Ad Block Plus add-on.

[amanda.a.p]

Might want to give the Mac version of Firefox a go too. IMHO, it makes Safari look like a tinkertoy. Make sure you get the Ad Block Plus add-on.

Firefox felt really slow on Windows Vista... is it going to be better in Snow Leopard? I'm not a really heavy add-on user, I mostly use the internet for personal things like Facebook, email, and YouTube, if that makes a difference... A little bit of torrents occasionally.

[cwa107]

Firefox felt really slow on Windows Vista...

Well, let's be fair. Is there anything that performs well on Vista?

is it going to be better in Snow Leopard?

It takes about twice as long to start as Safari for me, but once it's up, it feels every bit as fast. Fortunately, you don't really even need to install it. Just download it, open the disk image and give it a double-click. If you don't like it, just eject the disk image and move on.

I'm not a really heavy add-on user, I mostly use the internet for personal things like Facebook, email, and YouTube, if that makes a difference... A little bit of torrents occasionally.

Ad Block Plus is really one of the few add-ons I must have. It gets rid of all of the banner ads and stupid ad animations on just about every page I hit. It also avoids a lot of hassles like fake Anti-virus program ads that lead to malware (at least on Windows).

[amanda.a.p]

Okay. Well, maybe nothing performs in vista, but Chrome did do okay for my 9 month sentence in the Windows Vista world :] I'm in Firefox now, and from what I've done (checked Facebook, checked Gmail, played a YouTube video) I actually really like it!
But I've liked almost everything I've tried on this computer =]
Thanks for the advice, and I'll definitely try that add on!

[6string]

Give the 3 finger swipe up and down a go in firefox ....it works as a quick page up and down to the top and bottom of the page.
A simple feature, but my favourite feature

[amanda.a.p]

Give the 3 finger swipe up and down a go in firefox ....it works as a quick page up and down to the top and bottom of the page.
A simple feature, but my favourite feature

I love my trackpad even more now
I tried using my HP laptop today... yeah, umm, no way I can ever go back! Thank you!

[cwa107]

I love my trackpad even more now
I tried using my HP laptop today... yeah, umm, no way I can ever go back! Thank you!

Also, the pinch gesture zooms in and out (like the iPhone). Oh, and twisting switches tabs. Three-finger swipe goes back and forward too.

Another one I love: Hit the / key and then start typing and it searches within the page for the terms you type.

Have a news site you like? Click the RSS button in the address bar and then add it to your Bookmarks toolbar. Then, click the entry for it and it will drop down a menu with titles of the latest stories.

I could go on and on....