I’ve been a fan of Google quite early on. It is one of these rare companies that seems to be constantly innovating, going forward and finding new ways to become even more useful (and make more money). I’ve been waiting for a Google OS for quite some time, and even though I feel it won’t be my cup of tea, I’m still excited to see how it will turn out to be. I was able to try out their browser as soon as it was released to the public, but I didn’t catch on instantly. The interface didn’t integrate well (with Windows XP), it seemed overly simplistic, and I missed my beloved icons. I saw no reason to switch.

What’s up with Google Chrome?

I had experienced love at first sight when I finally received that invitation for Gmail; not when I used Chrome for the first time. Chrome was made up of some good ideas, one idea that I even found revolutionary, but I could live without it. Then it grew on me. Chrome is like that on a lot of people. They don’t see it as “the best thing ever” but keep it because it’s stress-free and uncumbersome. After some time, you don’t want to go back.

Google released Chrome stating that is was a new, innovative browser that intended to remove the browser’s “chrome” (i.e. interface) in our lives so that we could fully experience the Internet (i.e. Google’s services). Overall, they have achieved that. The proof of it is that the Chrome browser is still growing, taking market-share whilst the others are getting ready to imitate it. Critics can attack Chrome from every angle, but numbers talk: Mashable stated all this in a clear simple sentence without leaving out the facts:

“Chrome grew from 5.22% to 5.61% (0.39%) over the course of February. Internet Explorer shrunk from 62.12% to 61.58% (0.54%), Firefox from 24.43% to 24.23% (0.2%), Safari from 4.53% to 4.45% (0.08%) and Opera from 2.38% to 2.35% (0.03%).”

Clicky provides us with a nice graph that summarizes all of this.

It is interesting to note that Chrome is the only browser still growing, and that at a constant rate. It is undeniable that Chrome is filling up space, and pushing all other browsers away. Of course, it’s important not to over-interpret the data. Chrome is getting bigger, and all other browsers are loosing market share, but that doesn’t meant that Chrome is going to eat us all or that everybody prefers Chrome. What it means is that Chrome still has more place to grow, and that some of the innovations it brought were useful: we needed Chrome, we were waiting for it.

Even better, they looked at their own data:

“Chrome use grew among Mashable readers from 12.68% to 14.8% — 2.12%. From that you can deduce that Chrome’s adoption is (unsurprisingly) moving faster among web and tech enthusiasts.”

While it’s not surprising to see that Chrome is growing at the expense of others, it’s relatively larger adoption by technophiles says a lot about them. Now, I generally imagine that geeks like me love configuring stuff. “Powerful” software is much more interesting than any quick-simple application for any IT-oriented person because it broadens your possibilities, but it actually seems that a large part of these technophiles actually prefer simpler worry-free applications. Even for their browser, the most used application on their machines. Of course, extensions may have played a large role in Google Chrome’s growth, but even with a very powerful extension system like the one Chrome uses now, it will never be nearly as customizable as Firefox is.

Will Google Chrome continue to grow?

Part of Google Chrome’s growth may be attributable to Google’s huge worldwide advertisement campaign on January, but Chrome seems to grow just as fast after all the billboards have disappeared. If Google’s browser is loosing momentum it is not visible yet. My bet is that there are many more people who would love to use chrome than people who use it already, and they will continue to join the clan.

Chrome is clearly a good web browser with still a lot of growth potential. As a part of Google’s strategy, its goal is probably to improve our access to the web, not only for its users, but for everyone who might use Google’s services. Google doesn’t really care if anyone uses Chrome per se, but its adoption means more people have a better access to its services. Chrome’s comparatively higher speed, reliability and adherance to web standards opens more possibilities to users, including the use of (Google’s) web applications. Chrome, and Chrome OS, are all part of Google’s main strategy: to make the web indespensable to our lives. The release of the Android 2.1 on Google’s and HTC’s Nexus One is another example of this. Beyond tight integration with Google’s Apps and services, the Nexus features a google search box that’s more accessible than the phone itself. Some time ago, the company released some applications for the PC platform, but mostly these seemed to be experiments of an Internet company trying to make the link between the web and the desktop seemless. Google doesn’t like our desktop, the early Chrome OS builds prove that. Chrome is the best way Google found to bring the web to our hands in the most seamless way possible. It’s good for them, and it’s good for us. The more people adopt it in the short run, the better webapps and SaaS can get. The better the web gets, the better our computing experience becomes. Thank you, Chrome.

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The problem, however, is always the same: should we prefer security of functionality? Google Chrome (and hence the Chromium project) had initially opted for a limited functionality browser with high security. The idea (as well as the fresh interface) encountered a mild success. It was a great victory for Google in this highly competetive market, but the whole projet bumped on a large share of the market–the power users–who are among the most inclined to try out new browsers and switch. Why? Because the majority of these “power users” have gotten used to extensions.

The extention system is Firefox’s greatest strength, and that for a cause! I use Firefox daily, and it’s the extentions, not the browser, that have me addicted. There are extentions for the spead-freaks, extentions for the lazy, extentions for the news-addicts, extentions for minimalist-lovers, extensions to enhance productivity, etc. Whoever you are, there is a (therorectical) customized Firefox for you. Chrome, however, with it’s simplified interface, was not only looked limited, but actually was less functional. Chrome may be faster than Firefox, but I’m still more efficient on the latter because I have various extentions that work in my stead (i.e. that check my emails, gather news from around the web, enhance webpages, etc.). Not Long ago, Google introduced themes for Chrome, making the browser slightly more personal, but still infinitely less configurable than Mozilla’s.

Of course, Google’s choice was not bad when they decided to build a simple, fast and secure browser instead of a bulky feature-complete one, but now they’re reaching a ceilingin user adoption. It’s very probable that the great majority of users would prefer Google Chrome over any other browser due to it’s simplicity. However, these users are not those who switch browsers, but rather those who don’t (think they) care. If the browser is to reach a wider audience, it must evolve.

Of course, the folks behind Chrome and Chromium are aware of that. Yesterday, Adam Barth posted an article about the security problem with plugins on the Chromium blog. His point is that there basically “two main security concerns: malicious extensions and “benign-but-buggy” extensions”. The first are essentially malware, but it is the second that’s truly dangerous. More extentions by thrid party developpers means more code. Google will lose control on the overall experience, but also over the code. Security threats will appear exponentially. Luckily, the same blog post gives us an idea of how these threats can be reduced (by clever restrictive policies and a good dose of hunting). I’d also like to add that exentions slow down the browser and often make the overall UI feel less consistent. If Chrome can bring us the power of plugins without losing it’s speed and overall security, It’ll land one step in front of it’s rivals.

You can download chrome here and the Chromium projects’ homepage can be found here. You can also get a preview several extensions for Google Chrome here.

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The video below is the result of quick “research” (i.e. some Google guys asking questions in Times Square, New York) on what people thought a “browser” was. The results are scary. For those who are not courageous enough to watch it, this video basically proves that most people have no idea what a browser is, and assimilate the term to the concept of search engine.

The problem is that people are not aware of what software they are using. If they bump into limitations from using that software, they’ll think their at the edge of all possible technology and not that the particular software they are using is limited. One out of ten people is using Internet Explorer 6. They are not using it because they chose it but rather because they have no idea that Internet Explorer is a software program that can be replaced. You might argue that there’s no bad to that, but it is clear that people using IE 6 have a lower web experience than those with IE 8, FF3, etc. Of course Google is worried because their whole business is on the web: a bad web experience for 10% of the Internet’s users ultimately means 10% of users that would have a limited experience with their products.

Imagine what people would answer if they were asked what OS they used? Would they know there were alternatives? Microsoft has long taken advantage of this situation by pushing hardware brands to tie their operating system to the PCs. Practically nobody revolted against that situation because they did not have the knowledge to study the alternatives. You might say that the situation has changed because Apple is making a lot of noise, but according to the numbers I’ve seen, Firefox is much more used than Mac OS. That means that if more than 10% of users are not able to see the advantage to switching to a new browser from IE6, these same users will not even think of changing the whole OS. If 90% of users do not know what an OS is (and it’s probably harder to understand what an OS is than what a browser is), who can break the Microsoft monopoly.

On a more cheerful note, Apple’s advertisement serves the OS market as a whole as it opens consumers eyes and consequently pushes it towards more innovation. Now I’m asking myself a question: will the browser chooser option on Windows 7 (in Europe only) open people’s eyes about choice? The “ballot screen” that Microsoft will have to provide their new costomers with a new insight on browser competition, even if I don’t believe a larger share of customers will actually will care. This video just made me realize why Microsoft was fighting the EC so much.

Conclusion? I’d say computer illiteracy is good for Microsoft and any information is dangerous for their dominance. If people don’t know what a browser is, they won’t feel the need to change. The same thing goes for the OS.

If you’re not sure yourself what a web browser is, here’s a video that explains it is (very) simple terms:

You might want to check whatbrowser.org (from which this video comes from), a web site made by “some folks at Google”, that is non partisan (i.e. not pushing Google Chrome down your throat), and that’s simple to understand for non-tech-savvy users. I think I’ll send the address to my clueless friends. You should do the same.

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