So I downloaded Google Chrome,
Ran the ACID2 test, got the smiley. Ran two websites that I'm currently having issues with in IE8 without error, PNG rendering a bit buggy though so I felt pretty good about myself for trying the first beta. What to do next?
Seeing that I can't really wait for either Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 to come out, I popped over to both websites and "BAMMMMMM!", no Flash support. Tried to download the plug-in, closed down my browser, reinstalled ... Nothing.
So I thought, seeing that Google hates Microsoft as much as the next person, will they have some support for Silverlight? Nope, nothing ... can't get it to work.
What I do like though is the layout, it's clean and pleasantly fun to work with. The download plug-in is very well thought about, a layer at the bottom of the screen that shows you what and how long to go, then click and it brings up a new tab. No floating layers here. Problem with this is that if you close down the browser, gone's your current download.
What about developer tools, I mean 100% of all web developers in my opinion should know or have heard of Firebug (which tootally kicks ass). Click on what looks like a blank page to bring up the Developer Tools. JavaScript console, parsers and debuggers, all the things a developer should have to test his web site. Again, if a browser is truly 100% standards complaint, do you really need these tools, unless you are a complete idiot and don't know what you're doing?
Over all, I'm quite happy with this browser, IE8 is still my default browser followed by Firefox 3 mainly because I enjoy the "InPorno" browsing feature :D hehe. Can't wait to see more user feedback, a beta 2 release with both Flash and Silverlight support and a kick-ass landing screen with movable widgets, now that will be awesome.
Just my 1c for the evening ... Go ahead, download Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome) play around, browse, break, have fun. Having a 3rd browser now to test for is over kill but hey, if they want to build and release, who am I to stop them?
'Not everything is binary, if you look closer you might find some hexadecimal in there somewhere'