My 24 hours with Chrome
Or the luster is already gone.
I used Chrome for some of my web browsing for about one day. It works alright, but it's clearly an early release. Technically, Chrome can and will compete with Firefox 3 and IE 8. (I'm running a beta of IE 8 as my regular browser at the moment.)
The reason I removed Chrome is entirely based on the EULA (even though it is changing). It may be a bit of paranoia, but it is my opinion.
I freely admit to having concerns about Google and privacy, more so than any other software company. That's entirely because of their business model. Other software companies want an ongoing relationship with their customers. That shortens the sales cycle. But Google is different. Google doesn't sell me anything. It sells access to me (and others like me) to advertisers. The more demographic information they have about me (and others like me) the better they are able to satisfy their customers: the advertisers. It's in their business interest to collect as much data about their users as possible. Note that I make the distinction between users and customers: Advertisers are Google's customers. You and I (and others like us) are users. Google must satisfy its customers: the advertisers.
Despite such platitudes as "don't be evil", Google must keep advertisers happy if they are to succeed. Keeping users happy is important only in so much as a lack of any users will affect how well Google can sell add space.
That analysis makes me somewhat concerned anytime Google wants to know something about me (and others like me). They have a profit motive to know enough about me to target ads at me (and others like me). I prefer Google know less about me.
If you've read anything about Chrome's EULA, you know that I'm concerned about Chrome, and Google's ability to track my every move online. They have a profit motive to know as much as possible. The biggest risk of this, (to me) is the way their Omnibar can track everything I type. Depending on Google's use of that data, it's almost spyware.
The EULA has another clause (which Google is updating, but I haven't seen the updates) that gives Google a non-exclusive license to all content created with Chrome. That's also clearly part of Google's profit motive: the more content they can deliver to end users, the more advertisers are willing to pay Google to deliver ads. The simplest answer is that I don't intend to give Google (or anyone else) that kind of broad license.
I'm sure Google will continue to address these issues over time, and I'm also sure I'll give Chrome another look as they do so. In the meantime, I will be watching how much marketshare Chrome achieves. At the moment, I don't expect it will grow quickly: too many people have similar concerns about the EULA, and the privacy concerns.