Google Chrome - what do you think of Google's new browser?

I agree that the JavaScript performance is what sets it apart, although it has a few other nice touches too.

For example, its incognito mode appears to be designed to take the wind out of Microsoft's sails, as that was one of the touted features of the upcoming IE 8.

Also, it offers better thread isolation, so one tab freezing won't crash the whole browser, is entirely open source and poses one big question:

Will Google continue to plug FireFox now that Chrome has been launched?

I'm guessing that they won't, which must be a blow to Firefox's future distribution, even if their PR department claims otherwise.

Firefox is safe for a while, as Crome doesn't as yet have a single plugin, one of the biggest advantages of Firefox being the dozens of handy plugins, but then, with SEO already revolving around Google, how long will it be before there's tons for Chrome too?

I'm a very heavy web user so any browser that can speed up the web for me with quicker rendering etc gets my vote. That's why I used to use Opera, until I switched to FF because of the fantastic developer addons. I suspect that a reasonable percentage of the open source, developer and add-on making crowd will start making stuff for Chrome, so sooner or later some of the functionality of those great addons will be available with chrome. And also more importantly Google will build it's core services into the chrome UI in such a way as to make it an easier and better experience to browse the web. I reckon 6 months to a year, and by then, if it's still as zippy compared to other browsers as it is now, then I'll almost certainly start using it as my main browser.

I suspect that it'll take a little bit longer than that though to dislodge browsers like IE. Remember, this is just a beta version so exploits and bugs are 100% inevitable. So I don't see IT managers queueing up to make the switch for quite some time yet :)

Since Chrome has launched we've seen 'Safari' go from averaging around 1.5% of users' browsers to over 5% today...

Of course this site's audience isn't exactly typical but I think that shows how quickly it is being picked up.

I guess it depends how much Google themselves push the browser (particularly via Google homepage and toolbar) as to how fast it will catch on in more 'consumer' markets.

Ashley Friedlein
CEO
E-consultancy.com