Thoughts on Chrome

I've been using Google's Chrome as my primary browser since its release, and I've been meaning to record my thoughts on it. So, here we go.

 

I think Chrome could be Google's most important development next to the search engine itself.

 

I don't say this because it's a particularly great browser -- it's not bad; it's not the best; it doesn't matter.

 

Nor do I say it because it makes a good browser-based application platform. It does; it doesn't matter.

 

The important thing is that if Chrome gains even a five percent share of the desktop across a wide range of users (i.e., not just geeks) then Google will be able to vastly improve, even revolutionize, Internet search (again).

 

The reason for this is pretty simple: people are better than PageRank. That is to say, people are vastly better at judging the relevance of a page to a query. With only a search engine, the best Google can do in that regard is record which hits get clicks for a given search, and extrapolate from that how the user judges the hits. With a browser, Google can do much more. They can record a user's complete Internet browsing experience, and from that judge the quality of pages. Is this page bookmarked? Is it visited often? Does it get printed? How much time does the user spend interacting with the site? Is it left open in a tab, or closed? Is it the first tab? The active tab? And so on.

 

Now, I'm not saying Google is doing this, nor do I know that they have any plans to. I'm sure EPIC and the other alarmists would be running through the streets screaming if that were the case. But the potential is there.

 

The next step would be to know something about the users themselves. Imagine correlating demographic and psychographic information with searching and browsing behaviour. Google would be able to match a given user with those who match his or her profile and tailor search results accordingly -- and that would just be the beginning. Imagine the value of the ads.

 

Now, why would I let Google know all about me and record my browsing behaviour? Two reasons. One, they're a nice company (by which I mean, of course, that they are thus perceived by the public) and they would never ever use the information for nefarious purposes. Two, quid pro quo: if I share my information, I get better search results.

 

Long ago, Vannevar Bush (my personal intellectual hero) imagined people blazing trails through the world's knowledge. Here we, perhaps, go.

 

(BTW, you're probably wondering why I said Chrome needed a five percent share: it's my SWAG as to what it'd take to collect a big enough number of participants to make the whole thing work.)