Chrome Now Comes Loaded On Some PCs, Is Firefox Next?
September 1st, 2009 by K. T. Bradford 
Today’s news that Sony and Google have struck a deal to load Chrome on VAIO PCs marks a bold move toward chipping away at Internet Explorer’s browser market share. As James Kendrick points out, many consumers use the one that’s pre-loaded on their computers. Though Chrome and Firefox have been gaining ground, many users don’t spend much time thinking about their browser. Even Microsoft is having a hard time getting users to give up Internet Explorer 6 and download 8, or even 7. Their recent charity promotion is meant to tempt (or bribe) users to make the switch, albeit with an altruistic offer. With the proposed browser ballot screens in European Windows 7, Vista, and XP, we’re starting to see subtle shifts in consumer perception and knowledge that could lead, very shortly, to a more evenly balanced browser market. Then again, if Google makes more deals with PC manufacturers, Chrome could end up the dominant browser. It’s interesting that one of the newer browsers on the block is the recipient of this deal. Being a Firefox lover myself, I want to see my favorite browser get the same kind of attention. It’s not completely surprising as Chrome has Google behind it. But following this news, I hope Mozilla moves quickly to make some deals of their own.
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September 1st, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Other (I don’t care as long as it gets me to Chrome download).
September 1st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Chrome rocks, races, blazes… It is the one I use the most!
Unfortunately, my work email can’t be accessed through Chrome, so I keep FireFox on hand as well.
Every once in a while I get something that requires IE. As it came on the computer, I leave it there, but I use it less and less often.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Every so often I have to use IE for something, so it should ALWAYS be installed, even if it isn’t the default web browser for obvious reasons. In fact I think IE8 is FAR better than IE7 ever was, both in security AND launch/page render times. Not that I care a lot since I barely use it.
I’ve tried Chrome. And Safari for Windows. Both are fine. If Firefox didn’t exist, and I wasn’t so dependent on all my plugins, I’d be perfectly happy with those. But Firefox 3.5 is really awesome. So I’ve pretty much stopped looking at the others.
If Chrome ever develops a good plugin architecture, and develops a large library of plugins to customize it, AND in the process doesn’t lose its performance advantage, then maybe I’ll take another look.