I’ve been running Google Chrome 5 for what seems like months now (it’s probably weeks) and it’s by far and away the fastest browser out there. It’s still in BETA testing right now, but i’d imagine it will be going live very shortly…
It’s amazing how quickly you can become used to browsers or applications in general. You just assume because you use something, it’s better. However, experimenting is important, especially for the likes of me who are studying or working in IT.
I started off, like us all, on Internet Explorer. As soon as i heard about firefox (a few weeks after it’s launch), i switched instantly and stuck with it right up until last year. Chrome is just kicking ass now. Much like Firefox kicked IE’s ass back in the mid naughties.
Firefox will be trying to up their game when Firefox 4 comes out late this year, but in my opinion, the damage is already done. They’ve been much too slow to react to Chrome. Chrome was merely a shell of a browser when it initially launched a couple of years ago but these days it’s faster than firefox, it’s matching firefox in terms of add ons and it’s interface is much more simplistic.
Users want things yesterday and right now, Firefox 4 is literally months away. That’s not good enough today…
Outside of the big three, i don’t really take the others seriously. They’re niche browsers for mobiles or macs 😉 Speaking of macs, Chrome 5 will also be the first stable release for Mac OS X so apple fan boys will finally get a chance to see what all the fuss is about. Perhaps they’ll be prised away from Safari.
Google also say work on Chrome 6 is now starting so browser wars in 2010 is still very real. Firefox really hinges on version 4. It has to at least equal Chrome for speed and ease of use. If it doesn’t, the game is up for Firefox… Chrome will simply pull further ahead and Firefox of the future will become what IE is today.
This is what happens when you have Google as competition… they’re too fast, too smart, too powerful. I fear for Firefox as a browser, much more than i feared for it 12 months ago.
Chrome has been available on Macs for a good while now, so that comment didn't really make much sense, however I do agree with the idea that Chrome will leave other browsers miles behind, especially with it's built in GreaseMonkey support