Google’s Chrome Empire

So today Google makes its way into the browser wars with the short-notice release of its web browser, Chrome. With its sleek design, webkit-powered engine, and, to the joy of geek porn-surfers everywhere, the ability to hide the pages you visit from your history, Google now further cements themselves as the Rebels against an evil Empire of closed-source technology.

Now, some of those cynics out there might think the reverse, that Google’s entry into Internet browsing puts them even closer to a certain armored “more machine than man”. Afraid of Google’s continuing encroachment, some geeks fear the rise of Google worse than when fans of a small time band hate when the band signs a major label contract. 

Frankly, to be honest, I welcome our new browser overlords. I mean, c’mon, when it really comes down to it, people use the tools that work, and of course, the ones that are accessible and free. Google has it all, from site building tools, to notebooks, to maps, to images, and of course, searching on the web. Why wouldn’t you use the things that seem to work all the time? They’ve got flaws, like anything else, but if you’re opting to use a little known browser and you aren’t part of one of the major players, I guess that’s your choice, but you’re missing out.

I mean, who knows where this is going to stop, right? Soon we’ll see Google coffee, Google TV channels, Google taxis, Google condoms – it’ll be like Starbucks – you’ll see Google things kitty corner to other Google things. Isn’t consistency a great thing? Don’t we want to all use the same thing so that we don’t have to worry about some subpar competition that no one has heard about? Why not?

Being on the Google train is like being on the Facebook or Myspace train – you might try to resist it for a while, but sooner or later, you’re going to use a Google tool to do something, and by then, it’s going to be too late. You might as well save yourself the time and use the Google web browser now. Sure, they make overtures like they are going to keep working with their partners and playing nice nice with their competition, but sooner or later, the Google collective will absorb it all. I, for one, don’t plan to wait until they introduce Google doctors to introduce Google immunizations filled with Google antibodies that are able to use the google search engine to search for germs in your body and destroy them. No, I’m on the wagon now, and you’d better jump on before they’re out of space.

So enjoy Chrome, set your most visited pages to all those Hello Kitty fansites you visit all the time, and relax. Resistance, after all, really is futile.