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Google Chrome For Online Entrepreneurs

Over the last week I have spent time using Google Chrome to try and decide whether it will make my life, as an internet entrepreneur, easier.

The conclusion I have come to is yes ... but it's not good enough to replace Firefox as my first choice browser.

For those who have not heard about, or used, Google Chrome, I suggest you jump down the page to the video. This short clip will give you an overview of the main features.

How Do I Use Google Chrome?

1) Desktop links to Google applications

We use many of Google's free and paid services to run our business.

With a team of ten people and many partners who are spread out across the world it is critical for us to be able to share information across the web. To enable us to do this we use Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Reader, Gmail and Google Analytics. (Ed: thanks Google!)

I need to access these services continually throughout the day.

Using Google Chrome I have created shortcuts to all these applications on my desktop and in my start menu. This has made it much easier to access them.

There are two additional benefits of doing this:

Google Chrome has been optimised for web applications so they work much faster in the new browser

Each application is opened in its own browser so if an application crashes it only closes the single window. Currently if an application freezes the whole browser, with all its tabs, shuts down. This can be infuriating.

2) Most Looked at Pages

When Google Chrome is opened you get a thumbnail of your most visited websites. This is a good feature which makes my mornings easier.

3) Memory Use of Individual Pages

For months I have been having problems with my browser crashing. I have not been able to pinpoint which pages are causing this problem.

With Google Chrome I have cracked it.

Google Calendar hangs when I have iTunes or Picasa open.

To find out how individual pages are performing use the taskbar within Chrome. It quickly identifies problems and allows you to close down the offending page.

The Limitations of Google Chrome

The biggest problem for me and the reason why Google Chrome is not my first choice browser is the lack of plug-ins. My FireFox browser has plug-ins including SEO stats, Alexa rankings and PicLens image gallery. I use these features every day. Until Google gets these plug-ins it will remain my second choice browser.

Conclusion

For a first effort Google has done a good job and as I write this article it has kicked Opera into fifth place in just a couple of weeks. If Google cracks the plug-ins, it will be a real threat to IE, FireFox and Safari.

In the meantime use Google to run your web services from your desktop. It will save you a lot of time and effort.

Here is Google's own video of the main features: