5 reasons to switch to Chrome 4.0

[EricTheRed]

The browser from Google is available in stable version 4.0 for Windows. Two major functions are emerging: extensions and synchronize bookmarks. Enough to compete with Firefox!

The Google browser, finally, has arguments to compete with Firefox. The 4.0 version of Chrome, available for download since January 26, includes two functions that may well make the difference between software competitors: extensions and synchronize bookmarks.

These were well proposed by Google for nearly a month, but only on beta versions and "dev" Chrome, less stable than the final version now being proposed and designed for all users. Chrome 4.0 (stable) is currently available on Windows only. Users of Linux and Mac must fall back for now on current versions of the browser development.

An opportunity for Google

Chrome has another argument against Firefox 3.6, Internet Explorer 8, Safari 4.0 or Opera 10.10: the speed display. In this area, the Google browser has no equal. And this dates back to version 3.0. In our tests from Peacekeeper and SunSpider (Javascript), Chrome 3.0 outclassed all its competitors. According to Google, Chrome 4 would be even faster.

All this falls at the right time for Google, while "Screen bundle" Windows may reshuffle the cards in the market for Internet browsers. In a few weeks, users of the operating system will indeed be invited (through a screen multichoice) to choose a default Internet browser, among twelve software (IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc..). The measure is imposed by the European Commission who wants to end the abuse of dominant position of Microsoft on the browser market.

A unique opportunity to restart Chrome, whose market share in Europe is just over 4% in December 2009, according to AT Internet (against 58.6% for IE, 29.4 for Firefox, 5.1% for Safari and 2.3% for Opera). To push its browser, Google denies himself nothing, not even an advertising campaign in the corridors of the Paris metro.

[EricTheRed]

1 - Extensions

Popularized by Firefox, which was almost a trademark, they were introduced in Chrome there was nearly a month in beta. They are now available for the first time in the stable version (4.0) browser, which lacked this argument to attract users 'glued' to Firefox for that reason.

However the Mozilla software ahead with its catalog of modules unmatched today. But Chrome is progressing quickly. From 300 at launch, the extensions are now numbered 1500, says Google. The catalog covers the essential needs: consulting, e-mails, sharing bookmarks, Ad blockers, manager of passwords, etc.

The simplicity of management extensions is another argument for Chrome: installing, uninstalling, setting, everything is done very easily without having to restart the browser (unlike Firefox). And the impact of extensions on the speed of Chrome is virtually NIL.

Note that Chrome also has a function to customize the interface (themes), but less advanced than the Persona of Firefox.

2 - Synchronizing bookmarks

It is another function on boom which has appeared on the 4.0 stable version of Chrome. Synchronization can manage its bookmarks online and access them from any PC with Chrome 4.0. All changes to its watchlist are reflected online and accessible by Google (which has its own privacy policy).

Have a Google Account (via Gmail, for example) is a necessary prerequisite to use this function.

This feature already exists on Firefox, but only in the form of extension, not standard. This could be the case for a forthcoming edition of the browser, Mozilla working to develop Weave, sync function that can also be found on Firefox Mobile.

[EricTheRed]

3 - Speed

No doubt, Chrome is a browser very quickly. The tests of JavaScript execution made on version 3.0 already placed the Google browser top ranking, over Safari or Firefox. According to Google, it rose again with this v4 stable. The U.S. advance a gain of 42%, measured with Test Dromaeo (performance in JavaScript).

Version 3.0 is also very fast in the opening test of ten sites. It was just overtaken by Safari and Opera. Still, while it is played today in a handkerchief and that differences in test batteries do not feel bound to use during navigation. The development of Web applications increasingly demanding but could widen the gap in the future.

4 - A browser constantly changing

Chrome was born in September 2008. Less than a year and a half later, the browser already rivals Firefox, released five years ago. Software development is done simultaneously in three editions: Dev Channel (for testing new features), beta (when these new functions are stable enough to be made available to the public) and stable (final).

A well-established process that allows you to constantly evolve the software and test quickly to the general public of new features. This approach differs from that of Microsoft, which makes Internet Explorer evolve in fits and starts according to the release of major editions (the latter being the v8). The Mozilla Foundation also tends towards a similar model by multiplying the updates of Firefox as new features introduced.

With Chrome v4, Google has initiated the integration of HTML 5, the next evolution of Web language, partly implemented in browsers.

5 - An address bar to do everything

Most of those who have tasted have appreciated. The Omnibox, the address bar of Chrome, which also fulfills the role of search box, unlike Firefox. A single field to enter a Web address or an application on the Internet.

Of course, like Firefox, the browser makes suggestions as to research and measure the input keywords in the address bar, based on browsing history and bookmarks. But Chrome goes further by offering suggestions on the terms directly into the Omnibox. We find all the expertise of Google's research in this device.