There was a lot of hype around Google’s web browser, Chrome, when it launched in September last year and, although it has carved a chunk out of both Internet Explorer and Firefox’s market share, there is still a lack of promised functionality that is forcing a lot of potential adopters to hold back.
Internet Explorer has long dominated the casual market due to its ties with Windows and the general public’s familiarity with Microsoft products, over the last few years, however, Mozilla Firefox has been gradually breaking down their stranglehold on the industry. One of the main benefits that Firefox offers over Internet Explorer is the ability for users to add plug-in applications to the browser offering them to extend the browsers functionality in ways that directly benefit them. These add-on applications have proven particularly popular and desirable to the tech-savvy internet users who have gotten behind the browser and helped spur on its commercial uptake.
When Google originally announced Chrome they stated that it would be open source and offer a similar service to the add-ons found in Firefox through “Extensions”. Unfortunately, a year on, these extensions are yet to materialise, and a lot of users (myself included) are reluctant to move to Chrome as their default browser as it means losing out on a lot of the functionality that they have become accustomed to.
Thankfully (at last) extensions seem to be coming sooner rather than later, and today Google have opened the “Extensions Gallery” where developers can upload their extensions in preparation for the service’s upcoming launch. Extension developers are required to upload a zip file containing the code and an icon to represent the extension. They can then offer additional documentation, images and videos describing the functionality that the extension offers in detail.
As an Internet user who really appreciates the streamlined look and the speed the Chrome has brought to the Internet Browser marketplace I’m hopeful that extensions will soon offer me the last remaining pieces of functionality that will allow me to make the switch to using Chrome my default browser.
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