Chrome, the BEST BROWSER that powers your interaction with the internet (and more!)

from Google's official chrome website

Chrome is the best browser to access the internet.

If you've read my previous post I wrote about a troublesome issue with fonts. The issue was irksome at the time but was eventually resolved with a software patch. Despite me expressing my frustration, Chrome is by far the best browser out there. This is not just hyperbole. There are many reasons why and I will definitely be touching on that in my post.

Chrome is the official browser owned and developed by Google. If you are on a desktop, you are more than likely using Chrome to view this email (thanks btw). If you use Google tools like Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc, you are more than likely using Chrome. Chrome has become the De facto standard connecting to the internet, as far as browsers are concerned.

Google also provides an Open Source¹ version of Chrome called Chromium. This is where things get interesting. The underlying technology of Chrome is in fact more ubiquitous than you might realize... You are probably using Chrome right now or something else that is Chromium based and don't even know it... 

In a previous post, I wrote about a troublesome update that Chrome had that made it illegible to read in the "Google Chrome's Worst Update" post.². Issues like these pop up during the development cycle for software, especially for complex applications such as browsers.

Chrome (and Chromium derived) stands as the most used browser in the world by a wide margin. So much so you don't even need to look at the stats as I will explain further why this is so.

Firefox³ is the only main competitor to Chrome. Despite having a large user base, its popularity has been dwindling quite significantly over the years. Ironically for many years, Google has been funding Firefox, as a competitor!

So, what are the alternatives?

It should be noted, that there are alternatives to Chrome/Chromium and Firefox. With that being said, Firefox is also open source, meaning the source code is available so developers can make a Firefox derived browser that uses the underlying technology in very much the same way that Chromium is open source. Considering that Chrome and Firefox are the most widely used in the world, the others not as well known, not using Chromium or Firefox based technology, I will probably cover in a future posts. In many instances, people are either using the official Chrome and Firefox browsers or something derived from them.

There are a lot of different browsers based on either Chrome or Firefox. We would have a long list of known and not-so-well-known browsers. Just to name a few on the Chromium based browsers, there is Brave, Edge, Opera, and so much more. On the Firefox side there is Waterfox, Librewolf, and Tor. If you've used any of the derived browsers, you will more than likely be familiar with whether or not they "feel" like Chrome or Firefox.

Ok. Well if each base technology is either Chrome or Firefox? Why are there more users of Chrome based technology?

Many applications, for mobile and desktop is made with a technology stack called, Electron⁴. Electron underneath is... Chrome. There is a good reason for this. It allows developers to ship software across multiple types of devices and the web without having to change most of the source code while having the benefit of the webstack framework already available. It's very likely that many applications that you are using on your mobile device is based on this webstack, including websites you visit. While there are nuances to different devices (Android, iOs, Windows, Linux) that must be accounted for when developing for each of them, it is safe to say that having a base technology stack, that is mature and working across all major platforms, helps shipping to these platforms much easier.

Google's goodwill of providing Chrome's base technology, through Chromium, as open source allowed it to dominate the browser landscape and beyond. The open source model allowed developers to not only to contribute directly to the project but also extend its capabilities resulting in a landscape where many browsers and applications are made with Chrome (Electron). As an example, most notably even Microsoft adopted the Chromium technology for their Edge browser. This is the beauty of how Chrome/Chromium dominated the browser landscape and to a large extent the application market at well across all devices. Adoption is now widespread and the rest is history.

Chrome is the best browser out there. While being the best, it is not without it's problems. Chrome is bloated. For instance, opening the app with one tab consumes an estimated 500MB! More than likely, you probably have a lot of tabs open requiring that your device needs to have a lot of RAM⁵. We should also acknowledge there are obvious dangers that so many technologies are derived from Chromium even though it is open source. Political, economic, cybersecurity, social and other factors could influence the state of an open source project. While this might be highly unlikely, it is still a concern to bear in mind.

What are your thoughts about Chrome?

1. Open Source: A general term synonomous with software that describes that the source code for that software is publicly available. ↩

2. "Google Chrome's Worst Update" ↩

3. Firefox's official website ↩

4. To learn more about Electron visit their official website. ↩

5. As of writing this section RAM prices have nearly quadrupled in the course of a year. ↩