Chrome is my key to Googledom

The idea of choosing one browser for all Web interactions has become a thing of the past in my office.

My browser toolkit includes Internet Explorer, Firefox - and now Google's Chrome. Each browser has found its own niche on my desktop. There are applications where one of these tools is usually the best choice. That's why I often have two different browsers running at once

Firefox is my preferred browser for everyday use. It is my Swiss army knife for general purpose browsing.

Internet Explorer gets the nod for Microsoft-specfic Web sites and services, and for our Microsoft-centric Web conferencing system. It just works better.

Chrome is my choice accessing all things Google, just as IE 8 is my preferred tool for accessing Microsoft products and services online. And the Google world of online services I access just keeps expanding.

I like Chrome's lean appearance. It feels more nimble and lightweight than its more feature-laden peers. But the real value of Chrome is for accessing my Web 2.0 apps in the Googlesphere. I fire it up when I'm using Gmail and other Google apps such as GoogleDocs, Picasa Web Albums and Google Groups.

I can't confirm that there's a measurable difference in performance - although CNET says it's faster - but it feels quicker.

Matt Glotzbach,Google's enterprise product management director, certainly made a claim to that effect when I spoke with him at EmTech08 last week.

"Our web based apps are pushing the limits of what browsers could handle. We found ourselves bumping into what they could do in rendering and Javascript. [Chrome] is our attempt to push the browser market a huge giant leap forward."

He points to Chrome's open source, V8 engine, which he claims processes Javascript code "two orders of magnitude better" than other browsers.

Speeds and feeds is all fine and good, and Chrome has some other cool features as well. But the other important piece for me are the application shortcuts. I tend to create shortcuts to key documents on the desktop (to do lists, calendar, etc.) and now I have my Google Calendar and Google Docs on the desktop as well. Each appears in a stripped down browser window that dispenses with the browser controls and tabs, presenting a streamlined Web app.

Taken together, the desktop shortcuts and fast interactions attributable to Chrome's V8 technology help Google's application environments look and feel more like my desktop application shortcuts.

And that, I am sure, is the point.

That's not to say that Chrome is perfect. It has some noted bugs and lacks many features and plug-ins available in its beefier bretheren. Some are mentioned in Preston Gralla's review. But why do you have to choose one browser for everything?

You can have more than one favorite.

Related Blogs

• John Brandon: Google Chrome = Dead, Google Search = Hot
• John Brandon: Stupid Chrome bug: Why I’m switching back to Firefox
• Preston Gralla: Chrome: Google's biggest threat to your privacy
• Barbara Krasnoff: Google: Master of the stealth intro
• John Brandon: Google changes Chrome EULA over privacy concerns
• Douglas Schweitzer: Polishing the Chrome
• John Brandon: In a world where Google fixes Chrome ...
• Preston Gralla: Three hidden Chrome features you'll love
• John Brandon: Review: Chrome is Google 2.0
• Seth Weintraub: Google Chrome is a mixed bag for Apple
• Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Google Chrome: First run around the track
• Barbara Krasnoff: First Look: Is Google's Chrome a glimpse of the future?
• Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The real reason Google is making Chrome
• Sharon Machlis: Google launches a browser? Oh no! (maybe)
• Preston Gralla: Chrome takes dead aim at Windows 7 and Microsoft Office
• IT Blogwatch: Google Chrome - blogosphere explodes
• John Brandon: Chrome - Dethroning Microsoft or killing off Mozilla?