Friday, December 5th, 2008, 1261 days ago

Google chrome-like or dislike?

Do you like the new Google Chrome? Just admitted, almost all people like it after using it, it is smart, responsing quick and simply and easy-so many merits that hardly can not we dislike it.

However, there is a problem while i was surfing the web today, i cited the reason here:

[From 'http://searchlightdigital.com', all rights reserved by original author]

For those of you who enjoy living under rocks, Chrome is the new browser created by Google. It is open source and currently only available for Windows, although I have found a site that says how to build it from source for the Mac. However, despite the hype, I have decided that I will not be using it. In fact, I’m not even going to download it.

Is it because they don’t have a Mac version? Well, whilst it’s annoying that we Mac users have to wait, I’m not so aloof as to hold that against them, and let’s be honest, there’s a whole lot more Windows computers out there than OSX. Also, I could just compile it myself.

No, the reason I won’t be getting it is their terms of service, the fine print of the program. So, what do they say that I am not happy about?

Section 11.1
You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

Converted to English this means that anything I send via Chrome is usable by Google, they don’t own it but they can republish it and use it. Imagine that you are using it to post to a forum or blog, Google gets a copy that they can use. Lets suppose you use it to send a message about a really good idea you’ve just had, Google got a copy too.

It may be a really good browser that’s several times as fast as Safari but in all honesty, I don’t think that I can use it knowing that everything I post Google gets a copy of. I run an online game that is free at the moment but what if I want to moneytise it? Google probably doesn’t want to compete with me on it, but imagine if they did? The irony is that I used to use a Gmail account and still use it for some things and I never thought to read the ToC on that.

If you want more stuff about Chrome, PCWorld have a good article that lists 7 pros and cons of Chrome.