Since the release of Google Chrome on September 2, I have been using it as my day-to-day browser. Spending up to 80% of my computer time in a browser means that this was decision which affected a huge portion of my online experience.

I can say that I put Chrome through its paces, on a wide-variety of sites, from the simple to the extremely content-rich. From the mainstream, to the questionable.

This morning I migrated back to Firefox, albeit the latest Minefield/Firefox 3.1alpha.

The reasons listed below are mine. Switching back is a personal decision and everyone is likely to have their own reasons to do it, or to stay.

Advertising

I mentioned a few times during my initial use of Chrome that I was having to become used to the re-appearance of advertising in my browsing experience [here and here]. From their early release as extensions to Firefox, I have used AdBlock and AdBlock Plus to remove the annoyance and distraction of online ads from my browsing experience.

When I moved to Chrome, I had to accept that I would see ads. I mean, we were dealing with a browser distributed by one of the largest online advertising agencies. It could only be expected that they were not going to allow people to block ads out of the gate, if ever.

As the week progressed, I realized that I was finding the ads to be a distraction from my browsing experience. Ads impede my ability to find the information I need quickly.

Older Machines

My primary machine for online experiences at home is a Latitude D610. This is a 3-4 year-old laptop, with a single core. It is still far more computing power than most people actually need to enjoy the Web.

While cruising with Chrome, I found that Flash locked up the entire machine on a very regular basis. Made it unsuable. This doesn’t happen on my much more powerful Latitude D630, provided by my work. However, as I have a personal laptop, I am not going to use my work computer for my personal stuff, especially at home.

I cannot have a browser that locks up a machine when I simply close a tab. It appears that the vaunted QA division at Google overlooked the fact that people don’t all run the latest and greatest machines in the real world.

Auto-Complete

I am completely reliant on form auto-completes. Firefox has been doing this for me for a long time, and it is very handy to simply start typing and have Firefox say “Hey! This form element is called email. Here are some of the other things you have put into form elements called email.”

If you can build something as complex as the OmniBox, surely you can add form auto-completes.

The OmniBox

I hate it. I really do. I like having my search and addresses separate. I also like an address bar that remembers complete URLs (including those pesky parameters!), rather than simply the top-level domain name.

It is a cool idea, but it needs some refining, and some customer-satisfaction focus groups.

I Don’t Use Desktop-replacing Web Applications

I do almost all of my real work in desktop-installed Web applications. I have not made the migration to Web applications. I may in the future. But until then, I do not need a completely clean browsing experience. I mentioned that the battle between Chrome and Firefox will come down to the Container v. the Desktop - a web application container, or a desktop-replacing Web experience application.

In the last 48 hours, I have fallen back into the Web-desktop camp.

Summary

In the future, I will continue to use Chrome to see how newer builds advance, and how it evolves as more people begin dictating the features that should be available to it.

For my personal use, Chrome takes away too much from, and injects too much noise into, my daily Web experience to continue to use as the default browser. To quote more than a few skeptics of Chrome when it was relased - “It’s just another browser”.

Tags: Adblock, Adblock Plus, auto-complete, autocomplete, browser, browser wars, Chrome, conatiner, desktop, Google, Google Chrome, latitude d610, omnibox, wars, web app, web-based application

Port80 Software is reporting that in their survey of Fortune 1000 Web sites, IIS 6.0 has overtaken Apache as the Web server platform of choice. [here]

My two-cents: I respect the Port80 Software team greatly and love their maniacal devotion to ensuring that IIS users actually make use of the HTTP compression and caching that can so greatly improve Web performance.

That said, they are tied to Microsoft and the IIS platform. I would be curious to see if, scratching below the surface, they were able to determine what the application platform these companies built their mission critical Web applications on. I am open-minded and willing to hear that IIS is winning in that area as well. In my mind, it’s about Web performance tuning, not what you use to get that performance.

That said, I think a critical Web application survey of these same firms would find that many of these companies rely on JSP servers to run their core business processes.

As well, it would be interesting to se, by Fortune 1000 ranking, what the companies are using what server platform.

And…people still use Netscape Enterprise, SunOne, and Domino as production Web servers? YIKES!

Tags: apache, app, application, business, business process, caching, compress, compression, critical, cro, HTTP, IE, IM, it, js, LAN, Microsoft, Om, One, performance, pr, run, server, users, web, web app, web application, web applications, Web Performance, Web server, Web servers

Yes, I know. For the fourth time in a week, this is a post with a link to my resume.

But last night, while I was writing an e-mail to someone about the long-term future of GrabPERF, I wrote something that I had to read twice when it came out.

GrabPERF is my resume.

How can a simple Web application be a resume?

In my case, it highlights all of the things that I am interested in:

• Web performance
• Statistical analysis
• Clear presentation of data and information
• Web development skills
• Database administration skills
• System administration skills
• Distributed systems

GrabPERF showcases everything that I have taught myself over the last seven years. And I am proud of it.

So, what do you use for your resume?

Technorati Tags: GrabPERF, resume

Tags: analysis, app, application, data, database, EAD, GrabPERF, GrabPERF.org, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, information, it, Om, One, performance, pr, Technorati, web, web app, web application, Web Performance

This week, I had a conversation that included a discussion of whether Microsoft Office applications should be webified.

I think that this is the only way that MSFT is going to be able to get people to support a new version of their product. A web application running on an IIS server (you think they would make able to run on Apache? PSSSHAW!) would support thousands of users, even remotely (HTTPS).

How? Well, once you load the Web app…the load is effectively off the server until the user needs to save, or import, or merge, or speel…spellcheck. Users get to free up cruft and crap from their machines by only loading apps when they need them, and only the apps they need.

OWA is already good enough to replace the bloatware we call Outlook.

As one lunch companion pointed out, there has to be a version of these apps running in a lab somewhere in Redmond right now.

I would buy access to a new version of Office served over the Web in a heartbeat in order to dump the cruft and creep that currently occupies 300MB of drive space.

Tags: apache, app, application, conversation, cro, current, EAD, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Mac, Microsoft, Om, One, Outlook, pr, run, server, users, web, web app, web application

This is the latest and greatest in social networking/blogging/picture trading/auction/online marketplace/p2p/moblogging/brand awareness Web apps… [here]

…FREAKIN’ NOT!

Thanks for finding this Joi!

Tags: app, blog, Blogging, brand, HTML, HTTP, it, networking, Om, online, web, web app

As the Web moves toward the delivery of services, I have been ruminating on the continuing importance of browsers.

Scoble writes:

Oh, well, back to my RSS news aggregator. That’s where I spend 90% of my Internet time now anyway. Are you still using a Web browser? Good. I’ve been telling audiences that those of you still using Web browsers are wasting your time. I think that Opera might be more concerned by that.

I agree. I use Firefox to handle large applications, such as my employers interface, and my blog editor, but beyond that, it has become less and less important in my everyday online life.

This is the trend. HTTP and HTTPS will be the vehicles to deliver this data. Web servers will become more and more important, but as transformation and application servers for back-end data, not as presentation and image servers.

This is a long-term trend. But it also explains things like the decline of Slashdot. Although they have had an RSS feed for a long time, their bleeding-edge readers found that Slashdot was no longer bleeding-edge. Information is flowing faster and in a more personalized manner through aggregator, desktop and online.

I agree with Scoble (something that happens infrequently): the browser war may be irrelevant. The Web Application era has begun.

Tags: app, application, audience, blog, browser, browser war, data, delivery, desktop, EAD, Firefox, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, information, Internet, it, live, Om, online, personal, pr, RSS, server, web, web app, web application, Web browser, web browsers, Web server, Web servers

I submitted a presentation proposal for OSCON 2005 just now. The abstract is below.

The Open Source community has driven the online world for the last decade. PHP, PERL, Apache, Java, and MySQL are all major components of large online enterprises.

However, putting an application online and ensuring that it satisfies the performance, availability and reliability demands of the increasingly knowledgeable online consumer are often two separate concerns.

Performance should not be an afterthought; performance should be a leading force in creating a Web application.

Using simple Open Source Tools, Web performance measurement solutions can be built that rival commercial solutions. But what does this data tell you? And how do you turn this into useful business information?

This discussion will expose the participants to key Web performance metrics that make sense to both technology and business leaders in your organization.

I have a snowball’s chance in hell of having it accepted, as it is not hip, technical or trendy, and I am not an Open Source Guru, but if you design stuff for the Web, then you better be ready to have your site examined in detail, because if you don’t do it, your customers will.

Tags: apache, app, application, business, community, components, customers, data, design, EAD, HTTP, IE, IM, information, IP, it, measurement, metrics, mysql, Om, One, online, online world, OReilly, performance, performance measurement, Perl, PHP, pr, Reliability, web, web app, web application, Web Performance, Web performance measurement