7 Reasons I Switched to Google's Chrome

by: Jason Kelly September 03, 2008 | about stocks: GOOG    

Jason Kelly

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I've written extensively about Microsoft (MSFT) being threatened by the development of an internet-based operating system that would make Windows optional. My premise is that almost all applications are migrating online. When Windows is optional and non-Microsoft applications are a free download away, Microsoft will be in big trouble. Many of these articles are collected under this site's GOOG label.

Guess what? The internet OS is now available from Google (GOOG). It's called Chrome and is being billed as the best browser on the market, but it's much more significant than that.

I've downloaded it and was so impressed with it as a browser that it became my default over Firefox 3 within ten minutes of test driving. That's a big testimonial because we have a rule at our office: no new apps just for the fun of it. There has to be a compelling reason to risk our perfectly functional way of getting work done to stick a toe in the notoriously risky waters of new software.

My interest in Chrome was not big. I just wanted to see how it displayed our sites, how it differed from Firefox and IE, and to generally keep on top of things for our usual ongoing research. The fact that Chrome convinced us to switch to it whole hog within ten minutes of the supposedly cursory test drive shows just how fantastic it is. Even more, though, is pondering how fantastic it will become.

We're still in the Chrome-is-a-great-browser portion of this article. I haven't forgotten the future OS angle, but it's important to understand how Google will sneak its future OS platform onto everybody's computer and then casually mention one day that it's a full-fledged OS.

Here's what converted our office from Firefox to Chrome in ten minutes:

  • Chrome is fast, fast, fast!
  • It has a clean interface that makes it easy to show/hide bookmarks and frees up a ton of screen space.
  • Its address bar is more awesome than the childishly named "Awesome Bar" of Firefox 3. Chrome searches any engine you want, brings up recently visited websites, and -- most impressively -- converts to a site search at places like Amazon.com.
  • Its handling of tabs is elegant and powerful. Drag one off the browser and it becomes a new browser window. Drag it back and it becomes a tab again. Having many tabs open does not slow things down.
  • The new tab page, which can be set as the home page accessible from an optional button on the address bar, shows your most visited sites in a thumbnail grid. Very helpful.
  • There's an "incognito window" option that keeps all activity in it private from the computer you're using. No history. No cookies. No trace of anything you did.
  • In case you missed this point: it's fast!

So, that's how Chrome will win the hearts of millions and earn itself the default browser slot on computers everywhere. What happens after that?

People will immediately have a much better experience with Google's own Ajax applications like Google Docs and Gmail. Why? Because Google designed a whole new Javascript engine that makes Ajax apps scream, and keeps them in steel-belted tabs so one crashing and burning takes out only its single tab instead of the whole browser. If something locks up, just close its tab.

Then, there's the ever improving Google Gears for offline access. It's so good that MySpace used it to offload much of the processing for its messaging inbox and friendslist. Previously, people had to wait for requests to be received, processed, and sent back from the server. Not now. Thanks to Gears, much of the processing happens on the user's own computer and working with MySpace is nearly as fast as working with a native desktop application.

Take Chrome with its Ajax supercharging Javascript engine, add on Gears, and you're not too far away from a full-fledged operating system. It's almost like they planned this.

People much tech savvier than I are already talking about the ease with which they can now bypass the Windows part altogether and just develop applications for the browser. That was being prepared for some time now, but the preparation is officially over.

Chrome/Gears is the platform.

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This article has 10 comments:

  •  
    Sep 03 02:03 PM
    This is a great browser...the bugs are not worked out yet..I had a couple of crashes so far,but this is simplicity at its finest!
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 02:51 PM
    Ya I definitely found that it was not as fast as I 'd expected but I'm chalking this up to it being in beta. I love the desktop shortcuts you can make for web pages and apps specefically. I'm not exactly unhappy with Firefox so I see no reason to switch browsers, as I'm sure others would agree. The browser itself is simply a means to an end. I feel pretty accustomed to Firefox and it will most likely be an effort for me to use Chrome at first but I feel the learning curve (which is hardly any) will be fast.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 05:23 PM
    Like lambs to the slaughter. Go ahead, create the next locked-in monopoly. But ooh this one is OK because after all, like, they said "don't be evil". GOOG is a charitable organization, isn't it? Let's all make sure the entire internet is dependent on one company, gee that would be a great idea.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 03 06:36 PM
    Lovely! I love Chrome because I always love it simple, I always love it fast.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 02:21 AM
    More goog fanboys.

    Could you please explain to me how a browser could be an OS?
    Maybe I am just a dullard but wouldnt that involve a platform that could support 99% of current hardware, run 1,000s of in house apps and have support for tens of thousands of developers?

    Or perhaps you are just talking out of your OS.

    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 05:47 AM
    browser as OS processes javascript / XML /HTML /Flash... etc....

    old school os... machine language up...

    we still need both but browswer as OS is becoming more and more important... and nearly all that matters for some web stuff...
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 09:18 AM
    You should have spent as much time researching Firefox as you did Chrome, since basically all of the functionality (and way more) has been available via extensions for some time.

    And I echo others about the browser vs. OS. When Chrome can manage all my peripherals and print jobs, then we'll talk.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 09:32 AM
    The OS just isn't that important and will become less so as more applications leverage rich html. In 5 years the average person will care about the computers OS about as much as they don about the on their phone, TV program guide etc. Some people will care a lot and others not at all. The rich margins of Vista or windows 7 will erode proportionally. Look at the margins that CE, Symbian, Android etc. yield. that is what computers OS margins will be like in the future a mix of free and pay but definitely lower than the average margins of today.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 12:34 PM
    Potentially great browser...sure, why not? I'm a bit of a MSFT fanboy --largely because of intertia and laziness -- but I've pretty much moved to FF3 on the browser side, admittedly. So, I'm open to the idea that Chrome could be something better(haven't tried it yet).

    But an OS? Hahahaha!

    99%(unofficial stat) of people have no idea what an OS is, what it does or how it does it. Not that they should even need to know this, of course, but there is MUCH MUCH more to an OS than surfing the web and enabling AJAX apps.

    Just thinking about the gap between the current incarnation of Chrome(or any browser) and an OS gives me a headache. Sure, in years things could change and GOOG could certainly evolve this into something more substantial(I don't doubt they'll try, actually)...but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.
    Reply | Link to Comment
  •  
    Sep 04 12:54 PM
    You crazy fanboys. Chrome is just another browser. It will NEVER be an OS even if every single thing went the way of fanboy wetdreams it would still just be a free app sitting on top of a grow up OS.

    Stop talking out of your OS, and get a life. There is no new school old school OS that is fanboy talk.

    Reply | Link to Comment
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