Will Google’s Chrome PWN Firefox?

If you are a techie, you pretty much know that Mozilla Firefox has pwnd Microsoft Internet Explorer for quite awhile despite the fact that IE has a greater user market share (70+% vs. 18%). Although IE is the primary choice for most users, many users in the tech world believe Firefox dominates by offering the most customization and features and will continue to do so, even with the news of the upcoming IE8 version. Although Firefox has had tons of success with these particular users, it was inevitable that a competitor would come onto the scene. Unfortunately, that competitor is Google, with the recent release of Chrome, their incredibly hyped new browser. Although Chrome threatens the world of browsers, it is more of a threat to Firefox, says Sitepoint.com (based on very preliminary statistics). For this evaluation, I will be comparing Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox based on popular features in both. It's important not only to compare the current versions (Chrome BETA and Firefox 3.0.1) but also the potential for the future of these browsers.
Design

• Chrome
• Current: In Google's viral comic explaining Chrome, it notes one of the key features for browsers is that they be clean, simple, and efficient. Google surely accomplished this with Chrome. The first thing I noticed when opening Chrome was the huge amount of content space available. The limited amount of icons, the tabs positioned at the top, and the absence of a title bar and menu bar, really opens up the space for page content.


• Future: I do not foresee Google changing the layout or design, although they will open it up to user generated content. User-created themes already exist. The only way Chrome will be junked-out is by this user-created content.
• Firefox
• Current: I used to think Firefox was pretty "clean, simple, and efficient." That is, until I saw Chrome's interface. Firefox now reminds me of a typical, dull, grey, windows dialogue box.


• Future: Firefox will most likely try to become more visually pleasing by limiting their visible menus and features. I expect them to have a hard time doing so, considering how much customization and necessary menus there are. They could be like Chrome and hide (sort of) all the advanced features within the system, even furthering the promotion for techie users.

Web Standards

• Chrome
• Current: The Web Standards Project group, the authority on web standards, implemented a test page called "Acid [1,2,3]" for testing web browsers for the implementation of XHTML/CSS, and other web standards. If a browser passes, a graphical image should display perfectly. For example, a happy face would display in the Acid2 test. No browser has scored a 100/100 rating as of yet. Google Chrome has an Acid3 (latest test) rating of 79/100. For reference, IE7 has a rating of 14/100 (and they don't care to make many improvements for IE8 to improve in the Acid3 test).


• Future: I expect Google to continue to build their functionality in Chrome for standards to get close to the 100/100 mark.
• Firefox
• Current: When I tested Firefox 3 on the Acid3 page, I received a rating of 70/100. Other users are receiving a rating of 74/100, so it varies. The point is, Chrome and Firefox 3 are very close in ratings as far as their implementation of web standards.


• Future: Again, I think Mozilla will continue to build their web standards to meet the requirements of the Acid3 test. It appears both Chrome and Firefox value web standards and the goals of the Web Standards Project.

Security Identity Verification

• Chrome
• Current: Chrome does not have an option for the user to look up identity verification for a website. This is very important to have for e-commerce websites. For example, in IE, I would see a "locked" icon at the bottom of the browser if the site is secure.


• Future: I do not think younger users mind the lack of this security feature, although if Google goes after general users, and there has been talk of deals with computer companies, this is a necessary thing to implement as it is the norm for many users.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox has implemented an identity feature for secure websites. For example, if you browse to PayPal.com in Firefox 3, and click on the PayPal icon next to the address bar, the info will tell you the website company name and who the site is verified by, e.g. Verisign.


• Future: On the Firefox website, Mozilla noted that in the future they will show information about the SSL certificate of a website in the identity feature.

Malware/Phishing

• Chrome
• Current: After Chrome launched, I kept reading articles with titles similar to, "Another security flaw found in Chrome." Several bugs were found, but Google fixed these bugs with a security patch that launched on Sepember 8, 2008, only a few days after the release. On another positive note, Chrome uses a Google run database of phishing and malware sites that is updated constantly, and then is sent to the user's browser to protect them from these dangerous sites.


• Future: I expect Google to phase out many of the security issues they are having which are inevitable to come into play in the first release of any new web software.
• Firefox
• Current: Warning messages display for users and are pulled from the Google API database for malware and phishing sites – Updates for phishing sites (web forgery) occur 48x/day.


• Future: It appears whatever Google has in store for phishing and malware security, Firefox is simply going to follow along.

Pop-up Ads

• Chrome
• Current: There is currently not a built-in pop-up blocker for Chrome. By that, I mean, the pop-ups still display at the bottom of the browser page and show a title bar that says "Blocked Popup." The only thing about this that is super annoying to me, is that if I DO want to view the pop-up, my first thought is to click on the title bar once, but that doesn't work. You have to either double-click on the title bar or the maximize button to view the full pop-up.
  
• Future: I believe users will complain about Chrome not including a pop-up blocker to completely remove the ad. I think that Googe will realize the annoyance of both the lack of the pop-up blocker and the non-user friendly function for the pop-ups.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox includes complete features for their integrated pop-up blocker. The user has the option to block pop-ups completely, and can choose not to receive the notification that a pop-up has been blocked. Sites can be added to the "Allow" list for websites a user would like to receive pop-ups from. The only complaint I have about the feature, is that sometimes I will allow a site, and pop-ups will still be blocked.


• Future: Firefox will most likely keep their current functionality for their pop-up blocker, although hopefully fixing the minor bugs within.

Parental Controls

• Chrome
• Current: Chrome does not include any parental control settings. Since many initial users are techies and not general users, it may not be that important at this time.


• Future: This feature could be extremely important for Google to implement if any deals are made with computer companies for including the browser as the default install.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox does not include any specific browsing rules, but does support the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads.


• Future: Parental controls are very limited, and will need to be upgraded if Firefox keeps wanting to take user shares away from IE and Chrome.

User Privacy

• Chrome
• Current: Considering the bad rap that Google has received in the past for privacy, it blows my mind with what wording Chrome initially had in the Terms & Agreements policy: "By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google (NSDQ: GOOG) a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute any Content which you submit, post, or display on or through, the Services."
  What this meant, is that if you post a picture online, using the Chrome browser, Google had the right to modify and reproduce that picture on any other site they chose. After user complaints and bad press, Google removed the statement and claimed it was a mistake and was from a previous product's Terms & Agreements policy. Some people joke and say Google is "taking over the world." This comment only suggests the fear and paranoia that some have toward Google and possibly the Chrome browser. There has also been talk about how Google records the keywords you enter in the address bar, but I think it's a minor issue and helps the user more than anything.


• Future: Google will need to gain trust in their users if they want to continue building trusted web applications. Especially if they would like to gain user share with the older crowd. These days, things are so deceptive, it's hard to trust anyone. Mistakes of privacy should not be allowed.
• Firefox
• Current: It's always a bad sign when a company receives negative press. In Firefox's case, I haven't seen or read any bad press or articles about any privacy issues. This may be because users are satisfied by the extensive list of privacy add-ons that are available for Firefox (183 current Security & Privacy plugins).


• Future: With Firefox so focused on secure, private browsing, and the growing list of privacy add-ons, I do not see privacy ever becoming an issue.

Performance Memory

• Chrome
• Current: Chrome explained this thoroughly in their comic book, so I won't go into the details here. Basically, there is less memory bloat on the system because memory gets reclaimed when closing tabs.


• Future: Google will keep on inventing unique ways to compete for the highest browser memory.
• Firefox
• Current: So Google says, upon closing Firefox tabs, memory does not get reclaimed, and bogs down the system.


• Future: The only strategy for Firefox here is to either copy Google or to invent their own way of optimizing memory.

Stability

• Chrome
• Current: Again, in Google's comic book explaining Chrome, each tab contains separate processes that in result, increase browser stability. If one tab crashes, the whole browser is likely not to crash.


• Future: IE8 beta has implemented a similar feature, calling it "Loosely Coupled IE". The same technique as Chrome is used to prevent crashes. Chrome must decide if they will implement additional solutions to prevent crashing.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox processes do not run in separate tabs. That's one of the reasons why many users complain about the constant crashes in Firefox.


• Future: Firefox will need to keep up with the competition. I believe they will implement a unique or similar feature to keep crashes from happening.

Speed

• Chrome
• Current: Google built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which claims to be a lot faster than the version in current browsers. JavaScript is used not only in Google applications such as gmail, but in many web applications across the web. You will notice the speed difference of Chrome as soon as you start browsing around. Pages load smoothly and without effort. An article on cnet.com shows the overwhelming results of Chrome beating out the current browser versions in speed tests.


• Future: With current technology, you can't get much better than the speed accomplishments that Chrome has achieved. As technology evolves, we will be seeing even faster functionality.
• Firefox
• Current: I was impressed with the speed of Firefox, when first downloading it and comparing it to IE. I was a converted IE user to Firefox 2. Now that I've experienced Chrome, it's been set to my default browser, and I believe I am a converted Chrome user now.


• Future: Firefox has huge strides to make in this area. If I was Firefox, I would feel very threatened, as the easy thing to do would be to copy Google's strategy. The challenge for them will be to invent new unique ways to increase speed and be known for that feature once again.

Features Bookmarks/Tags

• Chrome
• Current: Chrome gives the user one-click bookmark adding. You can save to your bookmarks bar or another folder.


• Future: I really could see Google implementing a unique feature for tagging which integrates with a community tag system for each website, similar to Delicious, except with Google branding.
• Firefox
• Current: You must double-click on the star in Firefox to access bookmark details for editing. Firefox allows tagging, but for me, is not very useful, as I use Delicious to keep track of all my tags.


• Future: Again, to compete in this area, Firefox needs to implement something unique and ground-breaking. Something that users will love and use Firefox exclusively for.

Address Bar/Search Field

• Chrome
• Current: Integrated Google search has been inserted into the address bar. Typing in any term gives you the option to automatically search for it in Google and also gives you keyword suggestions for what you are trying to look for. Also, if you start to enter a website URL or term, Chrome will look up entries and try to finish it for you. These are not only sites that you have been to, but also random sites that a user has not visited. For example, I can type in "wiki PCI" and will receive the URL for Wikipedia's article on the PCI topic.


• Future: Google will continue to optimize their keyword search and URL listings. I would like to see more URLs for multiple keywords entered, such as for Wikipedia articles.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox's address bar is only as smart as the user content that is entered. Upon entering terms, it brings up websites visited in the past as possible choices you are looking for. There is a separate search field for searching specific sites, like Wikipedia.


• Future: It's really an opinion whether Firefox decides to move to one field box in their browser. They may optimize each one to do additional things that is not possible with only one field, as in Chrome.

Customization / Plugins

• Chrome
• Current: Google said they need to figure out a way to have plugin makers run at lower privileges before allowing the public to create plug-ins. Google Gears is offered for Chrome, which "enables more powerful web applications, by adding new features to your web browser," says the WIkipedia article.


• Future: Google has a very long way to go with plug-ins considering the huge community Firefox has, and the time it's taken to build it. On the other side, the community may grow extremely fast with all the hype and excitement of a Google browser.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox 3 contains an add-ons manager with ratings, recommendations, descriptions, and pictures for the add-ons. You can view, manage, and disable all of your installed add-ons from this manager. Over 5,000 Add-ons have been uploaded to the Firefox add-on website, many of which are public-created. Included are several themes to change the look of the browser.


• Future: I foresee the type and quality of Firefox add-ons to increase. For example, the already used Ubiquity add-on gives users a glimpse of the incredible features Firefox can support.

Download Manager

• Chrome
• Current: Chrome's download status bar automatically goes to bottom of browser and includes the filename, progress time and size.


• Future: Google may implement a pause/restart feature for downloads.
• Firefox
• Current: Firefox includes a downloads pop-up which manages all user downloads. There is a plug-in which adds the download status bar to the bottom of the page, but such feature does not exist in the default browser. The download manager includes pause/restart features to continue the download if the computer needs to be restarted or if the browser or computer crashes.


• Future: Firefox most likely will integrate the download status bar into the general browser.

Miscellaneous Here are some personal things I noticed for Chrome vs. Firefox while using Chrome for a full day:

• Pros
• In Chrome, the rollovers work perfectly in Whosoff.co.uk , a calendar system for LevelTen that tells each other who is on vacation. Firefox will not show the text when rolling over a calendar date to view who is out of the office.
• In Firefox, there is an issue where if you change a password that is already saved, the browser will keep saving your old password. Chrome automatically changed my saved password once I changed it.
• In Chrome, I accidentally came across the "Inspect Element" feature. It allows a user to right-click on an image or link, and select "Inspect Element" to view the HTML and CSS styles. This is a similar function to a plug-in in Firefox called Firebug.
• If you have multiple logins for a website, once you start typing the username, Chrome will automatically change to the saved password. For Firefox, it requires the user to tab to the password field for it to change. Not a major deal, but kind of neat to notice.
• Chrome implemented a "Save password" slide-down for saving logins on websites. Firefox includes a similar function, although it is much choppier and buggier than the one in Chrome. Chrome's "Save password" bar slides down elegantly.
• Cons
• Chrome does not work with UltraMon - a really useful multiple-monitor application. It allows a user to have an additional task bar at the bottom of the screen, as well as move the browser or software window to the opposite screen with a click of the mouse button or keyboard shortcut. Firefox works perfectly with UltraMon and I really do miss it!

I will not be naming an overall winner, since my "vs." list is limited and preliminary. Users have to keep in mind that this is the first ever version of Chrome, and that improvements will occur along the way based on user feedback. So will Chrome PWN Firefox? After all these comparisons, I'm sure you are going to hate me because I'm about to take a complete U-turn on you and tell you that none of this even matters. Based on the last set of articles I came across, I don't think that Chrome vs. Firefox is even the big issue here. The real meat here is for why Google even wanted to develop their own browser in the first place. In Google's comic for Chrome, they explain that web applications are becoming increasingly popular, therefore Chrome was planned to optimize for these web apps. Experts from Techdirt, TechCrunch, and Directions on Microsoft, take that thought a bit further by theorizing that Google's motive is not to go after the open-source browsers or even Microsoft's browser at that. Their true motive is to PWN Windows packaged software programs and replace them with browser applications. This makes a lot of sense to me, as everything seems to be moving towards the online world. And who would need desktop applications when you have everything online and accessible? I apologize for the abrupt change of gears at the end of this article, but I encourage you to research Google Chrome and create your own opinion about Google's motives. I would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and predictions so please leave your comments! Resources: http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/3872C261D0EDD173CC2574BA00790605 http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/small_00.html http://lifehacker.com/5045904/the-power-users-guide-to-google-chrome http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox http://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en-US http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.sitepoint.com