The Google / Chrome Challenge

I realize Chrome may not work for everyone, and especially the way it works for me because of my Linux setup.  Having said that, get Chrome and say goodbye to all the rest.  If it really ever comes down to browser wars, I know where I'm putting my money.

As most of you know, I am a writer, musician and amateur programmer.  Once in a while I suffer some compatibility issues with my Windows or Mac buddies, but over the past few years that has diminished.  I moved to Chrome (I was a Firefox girl for years and years) and suddenly I had no problems at all.

My writing is with Google Docs, so I don't have to worry about copies and sharing.  It is also nice for times when I find myself waiting, I can dive right in to my writing without worrying about missing a revision.  I have the full function of my word processor, and I've found this is a much nicer way to organize.  The comments section lets me leave breadcrumbs for myself when I edit (double check this, make sure this matches the timeline, etc.) and the highlighting tools make my color coding system work perfectly.  I have a consulting business that I run completely from my site and Google Docs as well, including billing templates and my ledger.

I also write for this blog, and I have a Google Reader and Blogger Chrome tool that lets me easily skim articles from my phone during breaks at work, load them up when I get home, and write my articles with minimum aggravation.  No more glitchy GUIs, forever done with a notepad editor or HTML checker.  My Chrome setup has the tabs parked side by side as pinned items, so every time I open my first browser window, my entire office springs up.  Nifty, eh?  For you Twitterholics, there is an official Twitter app or you can run Tweetdeck from its own tab if you have become a TD fan (I am new to Tweetdeck, but I am quickly falling in love).

I am an admin on a MUD (if you don't know what a MUD is, look it up!).  I can log in from ChroMUD, a beautiful telnet app that lets me log in and perform 99% of my duties from Chrome.  I read mail, chat, and enter complicated commands.  For those who MUD, you can set triggers, aliases and anything a normal client can do.  The only things I have missed are mapping and Portal's super-awesome-fantastic editor.

Thanks to Strato, I don't need an editor.  Strato is an IDE (integrated developing environment) that lets me play with Python code from anywhere.  It runs the editor and shell, so you can test snippets of code and view a full file.  This is a pretty new edition, but in a few months I expect it to be a robust and complete editor, and for there to be plenty of competition coming.  If I need to just paste and tweak code, I can do it here and tidy up whatever I am working on.  The help library needs some love, but again... this is a very new step so that is to be expected.

Writers, bloggers and geeks do a lot of research.  My final topic here will be my most valuable tool ever, Diigo.  I can highlight, color code, separate by topic, make notes, and bookmark sites to my heart's content and organize them easily.  I still love Catch Notes, but this is a web-only tool that makes some of the huge pages I read easy to navigate.  I can highlight a paragraph, make a comment as to what I want to say about it, and move on.  I can mow through hundreds of pages now and when I'm done have a concise list of facts and notes for when I come back.

I will write a few of these, explaining the tools I use and why.  I may pick some of these and go a step deeper, explaining why these functions help and ways to get more use out of them.  My objective here is to explain that this all runs from my browser.  Not an office suite on my operating system.  This is cloud computing at its beginning, where my life and files are stored online and the only thing I need is Internet access and a keyboard.  A thumb drive of modest size would protect anything that requires a local copy (I use my phone as a storage device).  Chrome is able to keep a busy computer geek and writer going without a hitch, and can run on any operating system.  In many ways, it is like an operating system in and of itself, because I can log into Chrome and do a full day's work without ever opening another program.  That is some seriously impressive market cornering, folks.

This is why Windows is suffering, and Microsoft's patents will not be as intimidating in the future.  Apple can no longer thumb their noses at users and have the "whatcha gonna do about it" attitude.  The developers shift the world of computing, and universal access to their product is much more profitable than selling an exclusive version.  This is why the Google / Android / Linux bond may be the one that outlives the rest.  They are way ahead on open source philosophy and are the new name of the "it" services.  I expect them to win by hard work and innovation with a boost of process of elimination.  You can now live your entire computing life through that combination of services.

Chrome has challenged the other big players to step up and streamline, or be lost like lumbering dinosaurs.  A good tablet and phone combination can make the desktop computer a thing of the past.  Laptops still have a market, but only for a short while.  Once open source takes full hold, tablet software will make laptop demand fall sharply.  That's a while in coming, but watch the big laptop names pimp products and work to stay relevant.

Check and mate, Google.  Well played.