For most of my Internet livelihood I have used Internet Explorer as my primary browser.  I started with version three, embraced version four, slowly downloaded the 20 MB installation for version five via dial-up, relied upon version six, and tolerated version seven.  Between version seven and version eight, Chrome whisked me away on its magical carpet.

My litmus test for new browsers is quite simple.  I use it a few times intentionally, I explore its new or different features, and then I simply let the circumstances take over.  If I use the browser, I use it.  If I don’t, I don’t.  If I find myself going back to familiar territory, it fails.  It doesn’t matter why. 

My rationale is this:  If the browser is faster, I don’t need to force myself to use it. I’ll want to use it.   If it’s better, I’ll have incentive to use it over worse browsers.  

I have used this test for Firefox (which I use mostly for Firebug), Opera (which I briefly liked but never used), and a few others. 

As a rule, I don’t jump on new browser offerings. I’m generally content with whatever I’m using, despite its flaws.  So when I heard Google was releasing a browser, I was very unmotivated to try it out.  Indeed I waited almost six months to download the Chrome beta from Google.  

A few months later, Chrome is practically the only browser I use for leisure browsing.  

Chrome makes every other browser feel bloated and slow.  Opening tabs is instantaneous.  Closing a window with dozens of tabs is also instantaneous.  If a plugin crashes, I get personal and somewhat humorous “Aw Snap!” error message and the rest of the browser remains intact.  

It's a pun.

Additionally, Chrome truly embraces the idea of searching from the address bar with reckless abandon.  Firefox and IE have featured this sort of functionality for years, but not nearly as intuitively.  Chrome assumes everything you type in the address bar is a search term unless it is quite evidently an address.  By contrast, Firefox and IE seem to first assume your input is an address.  The status bar usually begins a decision tree where “red hats” is looked up as a URL: http://red hats  and, failing that, it takes you to search results.

Another gripe I have consistently had with every mainstream browser until Chrome is the inability to drag tabs around or to drag a tab out of a window into a new window.  This seems so obvious and I have found myself trying to do it time and time again even in the absence of the feature.  Firefox simply creates a shortcut on the desktop if you try it.  IE turns the cursor into a forboding circle with a slash through it.  Chrome, on the other hand, immediately pops out a miniturized, translucent thumbnail and allows you to drop the tab anywhere or even drag it back into the tab lineup in one motion.  Finally!

Finally a browser that allows you to drag tabs wherever you want them.

Interface wise, Chrome is like XP to Windows 2000.  At first glance it feels blue and a bit silly, but overtime you realize they have stripped it down to only the things you use most when browsing. It’s optimized for surfing. Everything else plays second string.

All of this said, the biggest reason I started using Chrome is simply because I found it to be the fastest browser to load after logging into Windows. While clicking IE and Firefox seemed to cripple the system as it continued to go through its initial startup routines, Chrome popped up immediately.  That edge made it a winner before I even realized how awesome its other features were.

There are some areas it is lacking…plugin support is spotty, but many are supported.  GreaseMonkey support is barely there.  Auto Complete has just arrived in version 2 (but I never use it anyway).   The remember password feature seems a bit agressive and I suspect it has rembered passwords I didn’t authorize it to. (Possibly my imagination.)

These issues will surely be addressed as development continues.  I believe Chrome will pose a serious threat to Firefox and Internet Explorer once Google puts its marketing machine behind it.