SOFTWARE: Chrome Not Good to Go

The first question about Google Chrome arrived via phone Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 3:45 pm. "Whadidya think?" asked Ken Koyama.

So, here's what I think about Google Chrome Web Browser version 0.2x Beta. It COULD deserve a spot on your desktop, but I'm in no way thinking it will replace Firefox as the browser of choice for quite a while yet. If ever.

First, let's remember that this is a beta product. 0.2 means its a REALLY REALLY early beta, barely more than an alpha. BUT that it is usable. That said, I have one use for it that I think makes it worth having on your desktop. IF you use Google apps like Google Docs, Google Calendar, etc., than what would be more logical than to use Chrome to get to them? I'm sure that Google will have as tight an interface with them, as Microsoft Windows has with Microsoft Office. It will be pushed to the legal limit of how tight, but it will be tight. (A LOT of people think Chrome is the official Office competitor, not a competitor for Firefox and Opera)

Of course, you have to be using Google Apps to make Chrome a real asset. Not everybody does. In fact, after the downtime last month of Google Apps, fewer people are trusting their data to the Google Cloud. As convenient as it is to be able to access your data from any computer any where, if the cloud is down, your data is down with it. Right now, I use Google Apps about as minimally as anyone with an account does. And I don't see it increasing a lot. But if it were to increase, so would my use of Chrome.

Chrome does have a couple of other decent features to at least make it worthwhile investigating. The speed and memory use of the product place it ahead of Firefox (and way ahead of you know what). However long that edge lasts, it still is an edge today. There's also a privacy feature where you can type in URLs and not be tracked during and after, use of the web-site. That's a temporary advantage over Firefox and IE 7. IE 8 beta has it already too. And Firefox will inevitably have an add-in for it, if v3.1, due at the end of 2009 doesn't already have it on the drawing boards.

(This is turning into a much longer post than I thought it would be)

Summing up my reaction to the release of Chrome ... Nice toy right now. A contender in the future. A replacement for Firefox? No. Judge accordingly.