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Why I Use Google Chrome

Why I Prefer Google Chrome as My Browser

There are several good browsers to choose from these days, but for me it’s an easy choice – Google’s Chrome. Even if you’re a member of the “I Hate Google” club (and there are a few of you out there), you have to admit that Chrome is by far the best browser available.   The “Default” Browser  Back in the day, we were all pretty much forced into using IE (Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, or Internet Exploder as some people call it). The sad thing is, it’s not that much better today than it was fifteen years ago. Yes, I know, there are some of you throwing tomatoes at me right now, but let’s face it, IE is slow and cumbersome. The old phrase about putting lipstick on a pig comes to mind when it comes to the “upgrades” IE has received the past few years. All you have to do is look at its market share, or the lack thereof, to see that I’m not the only one with this opinion.   According to various sources (ZDNet, marketshare.histlink.com, Thecounter.com, and others), IE held a whopping 95 percent market share in 2002 and 2003. In the past 10 years they have continually dropped. As of the end of 2011, IE held 52 percent of the market. Yes, that’s still a significant number, but it’s nearly half of what it was ten years ago. For the default browser of the world’s most-used operating system, a 52 percent market share is disappointing and shows its true weakness.   And the drop has been accelerating. Look what happened from April 2011 to February 2012:

• Internet Explorer:  DOWN 5% (from 57.8% to 52.8%)
• Firefox:  DOWN 1.8% (from 22.7% to 20.9%)
• Chrome:  UP 6.4%  (from 12.5% to 18.9%)

Those numbers don’t lie. IE is on a collision course with terra firma.   Remember Netscape?   In the mid 1990s, Netscape was the browser of choice, commanding over 90 percent of the market. By the end of 2006, the juggernaut had dropped to less than 1 percent. Wow.   What happened? For starters, Microsoft pulled a fast one on the entire browser market when it incorporated IE into the Windows 95 Operating System (a brilliant move I must admit). That initiated a series of lawsuits, but in the end, Microsoft won, and Netscape (and others) lost. Big.   But that wasn’t the only crushing thing to happen to Netscape. Perhaps even worse was the fact that AOL acquired Netscape in 1998. Just take a look at where AOL is today, and you’ll know what happened to Netscape.   Firefox   Firefox is a formidable competitor in the browser market. I do admit that I like Firefox, but to me it comes in a distant second. I just can’t get used to the interface. I can’t really put my thumb on it, but the word that comes to mind is “clunky.”  For example, the re-fresh button (which I use a lot) is teeny and it’s located in a really dumb spot. Most people don’t even know it’s there. The interface is really my only beef with Firefox, but that doesn’t stop a lot of people. Firefox has a huge and very devoted following.   The Most Disappointing Award   Then there’s Safari. Wow, what a disappointing offering from the greatest tech company ever. What mind-mushing substance was Apple on when it developed Safari? I love my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro.  I love everything Apple puts out… except Safari. Slow doesn’t even begin to describe it. The only endearing feature Safari has is the cool home page and how it displays the last web pages you’ve visited. I do like that. Let me see… yup, that’s the only thing I can think of. Please Apple, get a new Safari development team.   Not Worth Mentioning   Opera. Maxthon. Rockmelt. SeaMonkey. Deepnet Explorer. Avant Browser.   I guess I just mentioned them, but other than Opera who has “some” users, the rest… Like I said, not worth mentioning.   Why I Like Chrome   I started using Chrome right when it came out, which was in late 2008. The first version lacked quite a few important features, and a lot of business applications had not adapted to it, so it was mostly for non-serious browsing.  Things have changed.   In the past year or so I haven’t found a single web site that didn’t play well with Chrome. The writing is on the wall (or monitor as it were) – Chrome is the browser-king to be.   So why do I like it? Here are a few reasons:   Interface: It’s not even close. Chrome’s interface is awesome. It’s easy on the eye, super easy to navigate, let’s you move things around with ease, and does it all while staying out of your way.   Speed: Again, not even close. Well, Firefox is close....   In all fairness, I should say that Opera is even faster than Chrome (at least in some benchmark tests). The problem with Opera is business applications don’t take it seriously, so business users can’t either.   Bookmarks: I use Bookmarks a lot. I create folders and sub-folders, and sometimes even sub-sub-folders. Chrome handles them with ease. The Bookmark Manager is easy to use, and intuitive.   Toolbar: If I use Bookmarks a lot, I use the Toolbar a thousand times more. Piece of beauty. I like to use icons only, which allows me to fit a lot of icons on the Toolbar, and not take up very much real estate.   Settings: The Chrome settings are easy to get to, and easy to use. There aren’t very many, which you might think is a bad thing, but in reality, who needs a bunch of tabs and hundreds of options like IE has. You never use them, never. Honestly people, if you’ve ever used more than a handful of IE’s settings you are a geek (and I mean that in the nicest way).   Google Apps: Yes, I’m a gmail, Google calendar, and Google contacts user. I’m not thrilled about Google contacts, but that’s another story. Bottom line, if you use gmail for email, you should be using Chrome. No doubt about it.   Add-Ons: Every browser has add-ons, and most of them are cool. All I can say is the one’s I use with Chrome are sweet.   Just to Be Honest   That’s a pretty good list – which is why Chrome is my browser of choice. There is one thing though, that I really… hmmm, hate is such a powerful word, but I can’t think of a better way to put it. I hate the way Chrome’s Form Fill-in Feature works. The ironic thing is that it works too well. I don’t have enough space in this blog to get into details. Suffice it to say that I really don’t like Chrome’s Form Fill-in feature.   Summary   As bad as the Form Fill-in is, I choose to live with it because everything else about Chrome is 100 times better than any other browser. I know many of you will disagree with me, and that’s fine. But sooner or later you’ll want something faster and something easier to use, and you’ll remember reading this article, and you’ll say, “Chrome really is an easy choice.”