Much of the non-lawyer world knows that Google released a new, free browser the day after Labor Day, called "Chrome." I've spent a couple hours yesterday and several today with it, to evaluate whether lawyers should be considering changing what browser they use.
There's a lot to like about the program. But based on my experience at three different machines, it appears to have a drawback that -- for now at least -- makes it a non-starter for most lawyers.
Among the positives, it feels faster than Internet Explorer or Firefox on most web pages. Its features as described in its comic book presentation of its raison d'être (yes, comic book) include some that should be welcome to lawyers who want to spend their time practicing law, not becoming security geeks, including (1) greater security via sandboxing (isolation, jailing) of potentially malicious processes, and (2) leverage of Google's data on websites to flag phishing and drive-by malware risks. Of course, there's no magic software bullet to keep one safe; good habits and a touch of mild paranoia (or at least a heritage of Missouri "show-me" attitude) are still needed.
I also like the fact that the location bar and the search bar are one and the same. In addition, the auto-compete feature is limited to the actual website name, not the whole address down to page and jump; and the domain is bolded. This in itself may help lawyers or their staff who think URLs are just gobbledygook, and are satisfied if some part of the long address string looks like it "belongs" (even though it's not the operative part). Of course, it handles https: and extended validation fine, showing "https" in green, and a lock symbol, for EV-SSL sites. So it had no problem allowing secured log-in to the MSBA's member-only services, such as practicelaw.org and Fastcase for legal research. And there are other things to like in general use outside a law office, but I shan't cover them here.
The biggest downside for lawyers is that it was dog-slow showing PDF files. I used it to check and send the decisions for the MSBA's Court Opinions by E-mail service for members. That requires reading a couple of dozen PDF copies of the decisions from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court. Login to the federal ECF system was no problem; but display of PDFs there (or indeed from anywhere) was frustratingly slow. This matched my experience on two other machines, with PDFs from non-court sources.
To be sure, there are work-arounds. One can simply download the PDF and then open the local copy. It was always faster to do that, than to wait for Chrome and then to try to navigate the PDF within Chrome. I used to recommend "first download, then open from the downloaded file" to members who'd have problems "just opening" a PDF in their browser. But it seems awkward to have to do so now. And lawyers so often have to read from PDFs that this is, for the time being, a show-stopper for any notion that you would use Chrome as your only browser.
Obviously, this could change tomorrow. Google has a decent history of improving its offerings, and this is a beta 0.2 release, after all. Also, it might be worthwhile using it as a browser for non-PDF use. But I suspect that most lawyers prefer just to use whatever browser "does it all" (at least, outside of Windows and Office patches).
I'll keep using it. But my advice to MSBA members for right now is to take your time, and stick with Firefox for its excellent plug-ins like Noscript, which can help keep your office safer from browsing "accidents."
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