In its public beta version, Chrome was just an experimental browser, at first without even bookmark management. In spite of Infoworld declaring “Firefox is dead” this year, at least that browser for the Mac is years beyond experimental status. But as of this week, Chrome for the Mac is out of beta test and into a full release, the first of many. It’s promised to be fast, open and secure. A business user might consider Chrome as their window to the Web.

Picking a browser is like choosing a home repair store. You develop a habit of using one and stop thinking about the alternatives. Chrome is definitely a faster browser than Firefox in our use, delivering a payoff in the “time is money” formula. If you browse a lot, Chrome could be an upgrade. (Safari’s performance is much closer to Chrome’s)

But Chrome’s got some steps to catch up in other areas. In the Mac version we downloaded this week, some Web sites aren’t working completely. Our TypePad account editor (where we publish the 3000 NewsWire blog) won’t let us resize graphics for posts in Chrome. The editing features at the Constant Contact email site also won’t perform with Chrome for the Mac, either.

This puts Chrome in a category with the iPad: very fast and slick for consumption of information. Not so good for creating messages and more. As for the death of Firefox, that obituary shouldn’t be written yet. 350 million users won’t expire overnight. Read the rest of this entry »