Chrome annoys me, or: "I'm in an abusive relationship with Google".
When I first starting using the Internet it was barely an Internet at all. It was more of an internet.We used Netscape Navigator to browse in monochrome, and suddenly we had pictures and text on pages instead of bulletin boards and clunky communication. Like all revolutionary steps, especially in technology, it was awesome, and then became commonplace, and then became annoying as we started to feel the limitations and desperately want upgrades and new features.And now we have maturity and iterative changes, and 3 or 4 browser vendors controlling, quite literally, everything.I'd like to say, publicly and for all to hear, that I love Mozilla and Firefox, but it wasn't always the case. By the time Chrome came along Firefox was competing with Internet Explorer by way of it's features list. As a result it was bloated, heavy, sluggish and complex. It also had kind of a techie feel to it, and leaked memory like nobody's business.And here comes Google. Their browser is fast, simple, fast, pretty, easy to use and fast. I loved it. Everyone loved it. It changed everything.And now the inevitable switch has happened. Firefox, in an attempt to keep up and not lose relevance, has completely re-invented itself. While Chrome has become slow, sluggish and stagnant, Firefox is good looking, fast, easy to use and is still a pillar in the world of open source software.I would absolutely, completely and utterly love to use Firefox as my main driver every day, but I can't.I just can't leave Chrome. I want to leave. It doesn't treat me well, doesn't respect me and always makes me feel a little dirty and used. But I can't leave. I feel trapped, and sometimes a little weak; giving in to my love of convenience and reliance on a couple of key features, rather than standing strong and saying "NO! Chrome. You're not good for me. I'm leaving you for this open source browser over here that cares about ME, not just my browsing habits and personal data".But I don't do that. Occasionally I try. I update Firefox to the latest version, use it to surf for a couple of hours, import my bookmarks and go to some of my favourite websites.But then, inevitably and predictably, I return to Chrome's warm and familiar embrace... and each time I hate myself a little more.Look, I know that depending on which direction you're facing when you look at them Google are either completely awesome or despicably evil. I have an Android phone which I pick up and say to it "navigate to work" and it gives me the best route based on real time traffic data. I take photos with it and Google keeps them safe for me in my unlimited storage, and it tells me where my car is when I lose it in a car park. To top it all off it doesn't cost me a penny. I love them for that. Their services consistently rock my world. On the other hand, I know that the reason they give me all these things for free is because they are constantly exploiting every aspect of my life to increase their bank balance, and I let them do it. I bend over and let them use me every day so that they'll keep giving me free stuff.I use Google products with my eyes open. I know what they want from me, and I give it to them willingly, and in return they give me access to revolutionary technology for free, and keep making it better without me even asking.Chrome is slightly different, however. As a web browser I think Firefox is better. There is a superior alternative out there, and even taking into account my willing dependance on Google's ecosystem in many ways it's still a better option. So why, I hear you cry, do I keep coming back to Chrome?The answer is there are one or two things which I use every day that only Chrome does, or that Chrome does best. It's really that simple. If Firefox would simply implement or improve one or two small things I would switch in an instant. I really would. But they don't. So here I sit writing this in a Chrome browser window. Damn you Google.The Chrome features I can't live without are not really obscure techie features either. Things like Netflix and WhatsApp in Linux (OK maybe that's a BIT techie - bit it's changing), extensions as desktop apps (the Mac REALLY needs this feature) and their simply flawless browser login and data synchronization feature are not things that only I use. Surely Firefox can make these things better? Please?Yes, I know that Firefox can do the whole log-in-to-the-browser-and-sync-your-stuff thing, but despite them completely rebuilding the whole thing it still pales in comparison to Google's effort in terms of usability, visibility of what it's doing and quite frankly the the fact that it just does what I want it to do when I want it to do it. And this is representative of the whole problem... Firefox is just slightly behind on design, usability and features all the time, and it makes it very difficult to leave Chrome behind.Despite being astonishingly memory hungry, a lot slower than it was, and kinda stale in it's design and core functionality Chrome just works, and I don't have to think about it.I really hope this changes in the near future. I hope that Mozilla sit down with Chrome for a few days and say "let's make Firefox do everything that this does, but better and prettier".Until then I'm just going to go and install Firefox on my office iMac and use it to browse the net for a couple of hours. It helps me to feel a little bit better about myself.
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