Will Google Chrome Rock Your World?

Google’s at it again, although this time someone ripped the covers off the beta a bit early. The Google Chrome Web browser hasn’t hit the public Web yet, but hopes are high that today will be the day. My first thought on the news brought to mind the Wilco song; Hell is Chrome, and perhaps that’s just what Microsoft and Internet Explorer creators are thinking. The lyrics begin: “When the devil came, he was not red. He was chrome…”

My second thought meandered to the privacy considerations that will be built into the new browser. According to early reports, it will allow standard cookies to be dropped on machines via the browser and opt out capacity is possible, much like today’s standard browsers. Each downloaded browser will maintain a unique ID and if users elect to send usage reports to Google, the browser will send crash reports and unfound URL’s to debug and learn more. Additionally, opt-in users will benefit from URL suggestions when typing into the browser bar based on Google’s search query knowledge and provide shortcuts to commonly visited sites (i.e., type “c” return; and frequently visited cnn.com renders). “Incognito” mode allows users to surf anonymously without transmitting any pre-existing cookies to sites. New cookies will be accepted in incognito mode, yet deleted upon terminating the browser session or returning to normal mode. It will be interesting to see how many users actually exercise this function (insert devious thoughts here). For me, I will likely give it a try just to see if behaviorally targeted ads and content change when I’m running stealth.

At the time of this posting, the browser is not yet available, but stay tuned for updates. With Google’s success and widespread consumer adoption of products delivered in search, email, and analytics among others, my take is that this browser will be widely adopted. Surely that’s what GOOG is hoping and perhaps with growing familiarity of all things Google on the Web, the close of Wilco’s Hell is Chrome lyrics will be apt for many consumers using the new Chrome browser: “And I felt like I belonged. Come with me…”.