Ryan Burnett’s blog

In Google’s latest attempt to assimilate you into its online universe unveiled Chrome yesterday. The new browser steals borrows heavily from Firefox, including its tabbed browsing, password manager and “smart” location bar.

Problem is the location bar isn’t that smart. Instead of remembering URLs in your history perfectly, Chrome nearly always displays the first result as, guess what, a Google search. Which leads you to Google ads and…more money for Google!

I do like the one-click install, clean appearance and isolated tabs. However, the lack of extensions is the deal-breaker for me. This alone leaves Chrome light years behind Firefox. While Google does emphasize open standards and community support, Mozilla is the true champion of that game.

Which leads to the biggest-browser-irony-of-all: if it wasn’t for Google, Mozilla would have to close up shop. Firefox’s built-in, and default, Google search box generates a majority of revenue for Mozilla. A non-profit, Mozilla has repeatedly denied all pursuers of buying the company and taking it public. I’m sure Google would have bought Mozilla years ago if not for their noble non-profit stance.

I love Google products and use Gmail and Gcal daily. However, the big brother has a lot to learn from the little-browser-that-could. I guess anything’s better than IE.