7 (+1) reasons to use Google Chrome

This is a response to the almost eponymous post by Eduardo N. Fortes entitled “7 (+1) Reasons not to use Google Chrome” (in Spanish).

Although Firefox is the browser that I use to design my blogs, mainly thanks to its Firebug and ColorZilla addons, for the daily browsing I recommend using Google Chrome; in fact, months ago I changed the original banner on this blog that suggested switching to Firefox for another that advises using the Google browser.

Some of the reasons are as follows:

1. Open source

   Although Google Chrome as a compiled browser is proprietary, its code is open, while the uncompiled code is free. This has allowed the development of “sibling” browsers like SRWare Iron.

2. Security

   It has proven to be the most secure browser of all thanks to its sandbox model. As they say in ZDNet, it’s too challenging to hack.

3. Stability

   It’s practically impossible to “knock it down” , and it can even defeat the browser nemesis, Flash, simply by killing the corresponding process from its integrated Task Manager.

4. Web development

   Chrome didn’t bring in a new engine to the browser market as Internet Explorer likes to do every time it’s updated, but it took an existing and free one, WebKit, and improved it to the point of making it one of the fastest and standard-respectful ones. As an example, while WebKit and Presto (Opera’s engine) score 100 out of 100 in Acid3’s test since last year, Gecko (Firefox’s engine) still scores 94.

5. Speed

   By this I mean both the loading speed of the pages and the time it takes for the browser to open. In both regards, Opera and Chrome have gone inch by inch during the latests tests, while Firefox, despite being relatively fast in loading websites, takes so long to start that is pitiful.

6. Automatic updates

   One of the points why I recommend it to new users who still use Internet Explorer. It’s common to see those who got recommended Firefox and continue to use version 2, ignoring all the warnings that ask them to update the program. As Chrome does it on its own and “in secret” , the person who uses it can be sure that they will always have the latest version without having to do anything.

7. Simplicity

   This factor that at first makes it look so weird, later turns out to be very pleasant, as it’s very easy to use and takes up insignificant screen space.

+1. Innovation

This is my favorite point. Google Chrome is a truly innovative browser, starting from its design, the sandbox model, private browsing, the Omnibar; up to some of its latest ideas, like coming with built-in Flash and taking care of updating it itself, full sync with themes and preferences included…

Firefox, and this is something Opera users will agree with, copies everything from Opera. I even doubt that anyone can mention a single feature that Firefox has contributed to the world of browsers besides addons.

I also highlight some erroneous points in Eduardo’s list:

• Chrome also has ad blockers, right now I have two installed: AdBlock and AdThwart.
• If you’re fearful of your privacy, from Chrome’s settings menu you can deactivate the sending of data to Google.
• When you first install the browser, a huge message appears asking if you want to keep Google as the default search engine or change it. So, the search engine is not an excuse not to use it either.

Of course, Chrome is not perfect at all. Some notable flaws are: the scroll bar locks frequently; there are times when I write an address and when I press Enter it gets deleted and it doesn’t load; the sites that appear on the new tab page cannot be easily customized like in Opera’s Speed ​​Dial; its extensions are not very evolved yet (Chrome’s Firebug is not even the shadow of the Firefox version); and worst of all, its online installer forces you to download it every time you want to install it and prevents it from doing so on computers that are behind a proxy; although there is an offline installer but it’s not well known.

Despite all this, I believe that Google Chrome is one of the best browsers out there, and I’m sure that its accelerated development will lead it to become the undisputed winner of the browser war within a few years.