2 September 2008
Google Chrome? Meh.
Posted by Kaanon under: Rants .So the big news this weekend is that Google Chrome is coming out soon. For those of you who don’t know, grab a cup of coffee and check out the comic about it here, it’s a long read.
To make a long story short, Google will be releasing a browser soon, and they’re going to do their best to make sure it rocks. It looks as if it will be using Safari’s speedy rendering, Opera’s ingenious start page, Firefox’s handy “awesomebar”, re-named to “Omnibar” and something called V8 javascript. Along with built-in Google Gears and better process management and you have a great new browser, right? Not in my book, not yet at least.
I’m skeptical that Google Chrome will make any short term difference in the browser world. The other day, I caught my wife using Firefox 2 (which she had opened for me, so I wouldn’t have to use IE7). I scolded her and she exclaimed that “nobody uses Firefox 3 or even knows about it”. I looked up the statistics and according to W3Counter, she’s right (not the first time that’s happened). Barely anyone is using what I think is the best browser out there.
Here’s my point, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8 and any new or updated browsers that get released are definitely a good thing. They make the web safer for users, provide more tools for developers and competition always helps the industry. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what the Best browser is, or the browser that makes web browsing safest, or prettiest or easiest for developers. It doesn’t matter if things keep getting cooler, because I can’t use any of that coolness. For Centerflow, I put rounded corners in it, but only Firefox and Safari users will see it. I’m often afraid to NOT use a Javascript framework, because I know how tough it would be to debug Javascript without the compatibility already “taken care of”. It’s a cruel thing to say, but I’m coding for the lowest common denominator, the worst of the worst, the oldest and remarkably the most popular browser out there. I’m still stuck making sure things I do work in Internet Explorer 6.
It’s not that I don’t LOVE that Google is doing something about the state of browsers, rather than sitting on their hands and hoping Microsoft, or Apple, or Mozilla or someone “fixes” it. I’m more sad that users just don’t upgrade. They either don’t know that there is a new version or perhaps they don’t care that there’s a more up-to-date version. Maybe after what Microsoft did with Vista and Office, they are actually scared of upgrading. It’s not uncommon. I’ve often help off upgrading my Xubuntu box because I didn’t want to break anything. Until people finally move past that wretched 7 year old software, we’re stuck making sure that everything still works for it.
Maybe I’m being too cynical, or Google is making the browser for the highest level of users, the web development community. Maybe this will finally make a difference because the brand name of Google is more well known that that of Opera or Mozilla. Maybe Microsoft will somehow get enough people to switch to IE7, which is more than a capable browser. Maybe…. but i’m not holding my breath.
