Google Chrome – Potential

Google Chrome is on the verge of being my default browser on any machine that I use. True its missing features, and true it still doesn’t have as many extensions, but it’s faster than Firefox, cleaner than Firefox and simpler than Firefox. You can even sync your bookmarks natively without installing a 3rd party extension, something the Mozilla crowd is working on, but have failed to deliver as of yet.

I’ve been use Chromium (the open source web browser Google Chrome is based on) for about 48 hours now, because the Mac beta doesn’t support extensions. Its the exact same browser but a less cautious one because enables extensions, themes and previously locked settings. Therefore its more similar to the final version of Chrome due to be released in early next year.

The reason why I, and I’m guessing many others are prepping themselves for the switch to Chrome is the reason why I think Google made the browser, because they know the web. They know how a browser should be. Its non-intrusive, tabbing is excellent, and the integrated search bar makes the browser look a lot cleaner.

Firefox users have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the extensions that can be installed in Firefox. They admire the extensibility, yet hate the bloating that they give to an already slow browser, compared to Google Chrome at least. If Google Chrome is to challenge Firefox in that area, it has to first build a reputable collection of extensions, similar to Firefox, without slowing the browser down. Extensions are now available and Google have done something quite smart with them. They are easily made by anyone with basic web knowledge, and most importantly, each extension has its own process. This means that if a extension goes rogue and starts eating up all your memory, you can simple stop it and your browser wont be affected.

Not surprisingly, the quality of the extension are high. Feedly, xMarks and StumbleUpon all have extensions released. There are some very smart ones released from Google themselves too, such as a Google Mail Notifier which has mail updates on the icon itself. There may not be as many extensions but it’s a start.

Perhaps Chrome isn’t in the same position as Firefox, but it does have the biggest web company behind it and things are looking promising. About 15 months have passed since the first public beta for Chrome arrived and it really has come on leaps and bounds. Google has created something brilliant, now we just have to wait for it to come out of beta.