• omnibox extended results being very slow
  • whenever i type something in the omnibox it takes more than 10 seconds to return my search hisotry and/or bookmarks
• page search doesnt look in text boxes (text area)
  • probably the most anoying bug for me. nothing is as frustrating as when you are editing something online and your are looking for a specific text or code and your Ctrl+F page search just cant find it, because oit forgets to look in text areas
• problems with flash especially videos
• misteriously closing tabs
  • sometimes when i type an url in the omibox and hit enter the tab actuallydisapears. it seems to hapen especially when i do a sudden mouse gesture just after hitting enter.

Web apps were always a bit difficult to get to, but this instant access without even an address bar in the browser window, really has opened up a lot potential for me.

The Old Guard

But let me take you through all that is at display. For instant messaging and file transfers, i still depend on desktop software (not sure if file transfers would ever make it into a web app…) hence the pidgin, skype, google talk, filezilla, flashget and idrive icons. Than there is  two native window icons for the desktop and the recycle bin, as well as a bleutooth icon to get images from my phone. Itunes is for syncing my ipod more than anything else. Than my most adored desktop app: notepad++: always fast loading, instant savable, and again with ftp support. But the rest is pretty much web apps.

The New Frontier

Gmail is the core of it all, Google docs help me edit documents and articles. There is still need for an actual  need for browser windows now and than. The one displayed actually opened by google docs, as the web apps can’t keep a pop-up in a web app window yet (and how would they differentiate between an app “native” link or an external?) Todist helps me see what tasks i am not doing et the moment and statcounter keeps me informed of my real time website performances. I am still figuring out what to do for an online image editor, hence the multiple icons in that field. There is a couple of the mandatory social networking sites, obviously Google Notebook to keep track of offline stuff (one of the few apps for which i miss my firefox plug-in) . As the last quick launch icon you can see Prism in which i load a additional google account.

I have to say i love my new task bar and happy that i become less depended on the operating system. The only thing that keeps me in windows is ironically apple’s itunes with last.fm plug-in to build an online library, but i might disattached from that as well….

The short of it all, you can’t do ALT-TAB between browser tabs. That means when once we could copy text from Excel, ALT-TAB and paste the text in Outlook, we can’t do the ALT-TAB trick to copy text from Google Apps and paste it in Gmail. That’s right, not even the superbrowser Chrome. Why didn’t the engineers think of it? I guess they don’t use web apps too much.

I am not sure if Michael tried the brilliant application shortcuts or lift a tab out of a window but for me it works like a charm. Alt-Tab brings me from a tab to a tab and Ctrl-Tab from an app to an app. Or did i get it wrong?

Future of Web Apps - participants

Future of Web Apps Expo is back in London, bringing you our fresh blend of amazing speakers, great advice and tons of networking potential.

WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA?

• How to grow and nurture your community
• Work/life balance or Blood, sweat and tears: Which is the startup way?
• Colliding Worlds: Using Jabber to make awesome web sites
• Startups live – An interview with three new European startups
• How to survive outside of Silicon Valley

Google Browser aimed at Web Apps

First of all: it is a speedy browser with the cleanest interface around. No big logos or branding:my whole screen is functional space. Second: The main reason it does this, is that it is focussed on web applications. Google is not interested in you using their browser per se. they want you to use their web apps as gmail and google docs. With chrome you can create short cuts directly to your apps on desktop or quick launch bar, with the websites icons instead of chrome’s. Where on my quicklaunch bar there used to be Microsoft Word, Outlook and Adobe Photoshop icons, there are now Google docs, Gmail and Splashup icons, and even in the task bar they will come up with the recognisable apps icon. I dont see Chrome as Windows Killer (see resources), but more a Windows Ignorer. You will still use windows and it basic functionality (or any OS, for that matter) but your main work interface will be Chrome run web apps. And google gears tackles the main web apps bug: you dont need to be online.