Why I gave up on Google Chrome - After 2 months
Almost exactly two months ago, Google lit the blogosphere on fire by releasing an Internet browser. Personally, I blogged that it was a direct attack on Microsoft and served no other purpose but to get everyone talking about Google.
However, I gave it a shot. At first I tried to use it exclusively, but it lacks the ability to use add-ons such as themes or plug-ins.
So, I started using Google Chrome as my default browser, but used FireFox when I started really working. This worked fairly well. Why? Because quite often, within twitter and/or e-mails, I would click on a link to a url. When I did, the web page would initially open in Google Chrome.
This worked fairly well, because the one true benefit to Google Chrome is that it does load a little quicker.
How much faster?
There are ways of testing it to the tenth of a second. But in real life, does that really matter? No. My quick testing just now shows that it takes about one second to load Chrome. It takes about two to load Firefox.
But here’s what happens. As I continue to use Google Chrome, I inevitably want to use one of my toolbars. As an SEO, I regularly use Search Status, SEO for FireFox, and Web Developer Toolbox. These are essential to my business. (If you are an SEO, you should use them too.) I also use StumbleUpon and Facebook toolbars.
So sorry Google! That one second of my life that you saved several times per day just is not worth it. My browser is a tool. Not having the FireFox add-ons makes your browser practically worthless to me.
Now that two months has gone by, can we all just agree that Google did this primarily to stick it to Microsoft? Be honest. They really didn’t need to make a browser. They practically own FireFox already. And Firefox is slowly and steadily taking over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
This is a case of a company just plain having too much money and throwing it anywhere they can just to stick it to their competitors.
Maybe the recession will get Google working back on their core products – search (and organizing the world’s information and putting ads on it).
PS: A quick informal poll on Twitter just proved that very few are using Chrome any more. It has been little more than a passing PR stunt so far for Google.
Popularity: 23% [?]
October 30th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I use Safari, Flock, Firefox and Chrome.
I use Safari for personal every day browsing, it has no plugins, but it’s fast.
I use flock for social media, it’s geared towards it and keeps me on top of my SM tasks.
I use firefox for web-development, like you said nothing beats the WDT.
I use Chrome when I need to have a faster java or flash experience. It just does a better job than them all and is very quick at it.
I use IE.. oh wait.. I hate IE. I use IE only to repair the damage good CSS does in a misinterpreted bastardization of it. hehe. I’d use it as a boat anchor if I could.
The point is they all have a purpose and they are all in some form of flux. Safari, Flock, and FF all suffer from quick bloat. It doesn’t take long for me to see a multi-gig footprint of bad garbage collection. Chrome is at least making that easier to manage by process control.
I look forward to seeing where they go and how they are developed, but with Chrome’s usage rising to what, 3% in such a short time I doubt it’s just a passing trend. Especially if it goes the direction they want it to. Now if they’d just launch their OSX version.
-andy
October 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Thanks for your comments. I find it very interesting that you actually do use several browsers. As mentioned, I tried that for about two months and just found it impractical.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Interesting post, because I just downloaded Chrome. Obviously this is very first impressions, but…
I like that it automatically imported my IE bookmarks, a major reason I don’t use FireFox frequently. I don’t like that I can’t pin the bookmarks list for easy access.
I like that it asks to save passwords, but I don’t like that it allows for only a single password per site, and overrides others (like you, I have more than one account at some sites).
I don’t like that my form filler is not compatible…but that might change soon (maybe? hopefully? I sent them a support request, so we shall see).
What I am surprised about is that the Google Toolbar is not automatically installed.
BTW, I use FireFox mostly for SEOquake, which these past few days does not seem to be functioning. I also have Search Status loaded and I really should make better use of it. I’ll check out the other two ones you suggest.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Yes. It’s ironic that you can’t even see the visible Google PageRank from within Chrome. (Oh brother!)
November 10th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Like you I can’t live without my FF add ons, however I am sold on Chrome. I use it for surfing when I am not working. It’s faster and recovers from problems much more elegantly that any other browser. I too have Safari, Opera, FF, Chrome, and IE installed but the bulk of my browsing is Chrome/FF. Chrome may not last, it depends on how fast FF adopts the new multi-process model. Clearly Chrome has some ground breaking features and ideas that will likely find their way in to other browsers in the near future. If nothing else, they have blazed a new trail that MS will be forced to look in to whether they like it or not.
The lifespan of Chrome I think will depend on how soon we start seeing Chrome extensions. If Chrome gets extensions soon enough it might become a viable full time browser. If not, we’ll have to wait for FF to integrate the Chrome code to get our best of both worlds product.