Privy

For those who use Firefox and GMail, it might be a now very common thing to find an error message “This is taking longer than usual. Try reloading the page.” Amazingly, I haven’t seen this same error in Chrome. Google released some javascript tests which showed Chrome to be 10x faster than Firefox and IE, which Firefox rubbished by releasing its own tests.

But, what is the main point here that I am trying to intend? Where Chrome is faster or not, Google knows how to make it look so. Google is now developing a lot of heavy javascript centric webapps. Either it is optimizing them to be used with Chrome or they are making optimal usage of Chrome. Either way, they are forming a dependence on Chrome. Chrome might comply with all the standards, but it has optimized implementations only in areas which Google likes (as seen from Google tests) and may be not so optimized in other areas (as seen from Firefox tests).

So, as a user am I forced to use Chrome whenever I use any Google app? Is Google going the Microsoft (Internet Explorer) way? What could be the impact now that Android is poised to dominate embedded devices? It might be that some of the fears that I display here are exaggerated, because Chrome (or chromium project) is afterall open source. So other browsers may learn a trick or two. But, will Google’s preferred areas inhibit development in other areas.

I am personally an ardent Google fan and like the way they present their (even ugly looking) applications, just for their simplicity. Google has been a game changer in many fields. Their advertising revenue model enables them to earn even from their competitors. Eg. Most Orkut competitors serve Ads by Google. Google’s strategy in such cases has been to challenge competition but never to kill it. Why kill when they could pay?