It’s no secret that google is the largest and most popular search engine on the web today.  It would seem, at least at this early stage in the game for their browser, that they are well on their way to have the best browser out there, too.

So now you’re probably thinking, why am I comparing Chrome to Firefox and not the other browsers.  Well, that’s because you have to consider the distribution channels of browsers before you can compare them and their popularity.  Looking at it that way, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is in a different league than the other guys like Firefox, Opera and the like.  In a similar fashion, Safari can’t be compared because it ships with Apple’s OS X.

Which leads me to the question of:  For those browsers designed to appeal to the more demanding surfer, can the reigning champion, Firefox stand up to the new challenger?  This is the market where product performance really counts.  Okay, Firefox has the advantage of coming bundled with many Linux distros, but most people who will use a Linux distro would be inclined to use a preferred browser anyway, whether it come bundled with their favorite OS or need to be downloaded, untarred, compiled, installed, programmed, reverse engineered, or whatever it takes to get the most of their computing/browsing experience.

So let’s take score at this point.  What are Firefox’s strengths?  It’s familiar, of course.  It plays well with industry accepted standards.  It’s very customizable.  I think that’s where Firefox is a big winner.  The Firefox add-ons and themes makes it the most versatile offering out there.  Everything from embedded FTP clients to web page screen grabbers, there are so many tools out there that have been made possible through Firefox’s approach to plug-in development.  And I think that’s a HUGE plus in favor of the reigning champ.

Now what’s the challenger touting?  Chrome is just plain fast.  Again, Google shows their understanding of what users are looking for.  No frills, or bells and whistles, here.  A minimalistic approach to one thing.  Give the user what he needs fast and easy.  The browser doesn’t even have the now famous search bar.  Google just said, “Use the address bar.”  Wasn’t that simple enough?  Firefox 3 does that, yes.  But there’s still that search bar that takes up precious sreen real estate – another big complaint from the demanding web surfer.  But back to how fast Chrome is.  Try it out a few times and you’ll be amazed at how different of an experience it is surfing with Chrome.

So only time will tell now, can Firefox keep the new kid, Chrome under control?  Or will Google once again prove that their business model works better than anyone else’s.  At least when it comes to anything web.