Google Web Accelerator

[ixnay]

It's looking like this still may have some bugs to work out - another forum is reporting that while using this they're getting other people's cached PM boxes and stuff.

D:

[Ted Striker]

Hmmmm...this sounds like the world's biggest proxy server then.

That sounds kinda scary!

[VetLegion]

This sounds like a very useless product


"Sending your page requests through Google machines dedicated to handling Google Web Accelerator traffic."

Useless. Google is fast enough as it is.

Storing copies of frequently looked at pages to make them quickly accessible.

Ordinary proxies do this.

Downloading only the updates if a web page has changed slightly since you last viewed it.

Prefetching certain pages onto your computer in advance.

I pay for traffic! Terrible idea.

Managing your Internet connection to reduce delays.

What?

Compressing data before sending it to your computer.

There already is hardware compression built into the modem(s).



So all in all, not a big improvement, lots of security issues and so on.

[Atahualpa]

Wow a proxy server..... this must be what the world has been waiting for!

There already is hardware compression built into the modem(s).

I guess this should just mean that they support gzip compression.

[Qilue]

It sounds like a new twist on spyware where Google have managed to get people to willingly install it.

Google spyware.

[Tattila the Hun]

Somehow I doubt Google would release anything useless. They seem too professional..

5.8 seconds saved! Woot!

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Tattila the Hun
Somehow I doubt Google would release anything useless. They seem too professional..

5.8 seconds saved! Woot!

Oh, it's certainly not useless... but it's use may not be what you think it is.

[Solver]

It says designed for broadband, weird. Can it really make pages load faster if I have a connection starting from 1.5 Mbit to 2 Mbit down? I'm weary.

[Asher]

The vast majority of web servers cannot and do not allocate 1.5 to 2 Mbit of bandwidth to each user.

If the website has an upload speed of 10KB/s to each user (if it's overloaded, for instance), you'll still get 10KB/s from it with 1.5 to 2Mbit.

With the accelerator, you'd get 1.5 to 2Mbit.

[St Leo]

So, in other words, Google is trying to neutralize the Slashdot effect.

[General Ludd]

Or, in other other words, google caches everything you view and do, and lets anyone else who uses the program access it.

[Solver]

I bit the bullet and am installing. At least it downloaded instantly .

[Asher]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Or, in other other words, google caches everything you view and do, and lets anyone else who uses the program access it.

Those claims haven't been substantiated, and I'd be very, very surprised if they were true or even theoretically possible.

It doesn't cache secure HTTP (https) or any sites you add to the exclude list.

[ixnay]

It does, however, cache pages on forums and stuff.

So if a bunch of Apolyton people installed it and then started browsing, there's the chance that you'd get a cached version of someone else's PM box - you wouldn't be able to do anything with it, but you'd still be able to see it.

[Asher]

I was under the impression that it only cached static pages?