The Grubbsian

The jury is still out on Google Chrome…most likely since no one has really been able to get their hands on it yet.  The browser is set to ship in beta sometime today.  But even before its release the very idea of a new browser begs the question… "Do we need another browser?"

Like most philosophical questions of this depth (mind you not very deep at all) the answer is varied.  Some say, "Yes, more browsers equals more choice equals more competition equals better features, blah blah balh."  Others say, "Are you crazy?  I just got over IE6!"  In my opinion, it’s not really about the browser it’s about the engines. 

I don’t care if the title bar of my browser says Microsoft, is a drab 1940′s post-ware gray (ala Safari), or has a little curled up fox gently engulfing the globe.  What I do care about is how the thing works.  As a developer, I crave consistency.  When I write a piece of code I want it to function precisely as I expect it to, and I want it to do that in every environment that calls it.  In this vein the nice thing about Google Chrome is that it’s built with open source pieces…it’s the Frankenstein of browsers really.  It has WebKit’s rendering engine, parts of the plug-in architecture are ripped off from FireFox, and I suspect that a its new JavaScript engine is built on concepts from a whole realm of different open source projects.

So, we’ll have to wait and see what comes of it.  If it runs Firebug, and is really as fast as they say, then it’ll probably be a good browser for developers, if not it will just be another "Oh that’s kinda cool", and then we’ll all go back to FireFox.