So – we all know it’s here, and Google are claiming that their new ‘chrome’ platform is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

Boasting one box for everything, thumbnails of your top sites, shortcuts for your apps and a whole heap more, Google have released a comic and video to explain the finer points of their service (oh how hip). And while it seems that the majority of users of the space are digging the overall concept of it all, and the speed of it all, hardforum suggests that Chrome may not be as universally alluring as the glistening of its namesake on the large alloy wheels of a lowrider…

Ady from romantika.name is pretty positive though, saying “I like it. Flaws are natural. Point me a perfect software. Chrome is very comfortable, and it does not introduce much jerkiness that we experience with Firefox especially on a low powered machine. As a matter of fact I am writing this post using Chrome. But then again don’t get me wrong, I still love my Firefox.”

Charles Miller makes a good point though, asking “if you introduce a beta that is largely interesting to nerds, releasing it only for Windows is a mistake. I know I subscribe to a preponderance of blogs by Mac or Linux users, but even I was surprised by the number of Chrome reviews that mentioned having to run it in a virtual machine, or on the old discarded Windows box in the corner.” And if Google are aiming for mass-market appeal, why on earth doesn’t it work with the new version of Hotmail, admittedly superseded by many email clients, but still a particularly popular site across the globe.

Oh – and did anyone spot this in the fine print, which seems to suggest that Google can nab your content to promote its service. Props to cnet.com for spotting this one –

“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.