The beta is officially out. If you're curious, you can get it here:
Google Chrome - Download a new browser
It's not like IE or FireFox. It has a Google look and feel... especially around the pre-emptive tasks. For example, in IE 7, to add a bookmark you click the 'add bookmark' button, then select 'add to favorites' then click ok. In Chrome, you click the 'add bookmark' button and it's added. You get a pop window if you want to edit the title or location, but the bookmark is there and you can just continue on with your business.
Chrome does away with a separate search bar, menu navs, etc. You get tabs and an address bar. The default page for Chrome (like when you first start or select a new tab) is a task window that shows your recently visited sites (complete with thumbnail) and your bookmarks.
There's also an incognito surfing mode (similar to the new feature in IE 8 or using Firefox with the Distrust add-in) that will erase all images, browser history, etc at the end of your incognito session.
Also, there's a handy feature for adding a shortcut to a web page. It'll add it to, at your choice, the desktop, start menu and quick launch bar. Selecting the shortcut will launch Chrome with no, well, chrome... just your page in a window. Great for adding shortcuts to things like GMail, your bank, etc. Things you might want a dedicated task open for.
Last, for developers, there's a feature for inspecting the current page. It's very similar to FireBug for FireFox and the new developer tools in IE 8.
It seems to render very fast. Startup is super-quick. On first blush, it seems pretty darn compliant with CSS standards. All in all, a decent beta.
At first, I was a little disappointed that Google didn't just give a bunch of money and developer help to Mozilla. But, after playing with it more, I think I can see their rationale for wanting a separate browser... sometimes it's easier to raze the building and start over (essentially what Mozilla had to do with the initial Netscape 4 code).
I do question how much this will help them, though. FireFox has been making headway... let's hope this helps balance things by taking market share from both Microsoft and Mozilla rather than splintering the Mozilla user base.
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