Google announced Chrome for Linux (and Mac today).In the true Google tradition, it's a beta version.
I have been waiting for this since Firefox 3.0. The frustrations with Firefox 3.0 and later have been well documented by many. Personally, I would really appreciate if my browser does not use more than 75% of memory on my system. This is regardless of if I have 512MB or 4 gigs.
The challenge for Chrome is to get the quality and number of extensions that Firefox has. With this version of Chrome, there is support for extensions and the market place claims to have over 300 extensions. How well this works on Linux needs to be seen.
The first thing I will need however is the ability to import and manage my bookmarks. I have been using Xmarks in Firefox and can't believe how I would manage without this tool. Hopefully there is something equivalent with Chrome.
On a relevant note, a while back I saw a commercial or a video where random people in New York were asked if they knew what Chrome was. As expected, it was interesting to see that most people did not know. In the bay area, we are blind-sighted by the access to new technology and information and we rarely think in terms of what real consumers experience, know and think. Google seemed to understand that and hopefully that understanding shows in Chrome's usability.
In terms of product development, Seth Godin had an interesting post a while back regarding what Firefox should be/could be doing to be a better product. Let's hope the world is relieved from the curse of Internet Explorer soon.
