I decided I was sick of Internet Explorer last week. I’ve been hearing that Internet Explorer was slow and that Firefox and Google Chrome made Internet browsing much faster. I wanted to see for myself, so I downloaded Google Chrome and started using it.
I have to admit, Chrome does seem considerably faster than Internet Explorer, which was a surprise to me. I did a series of unofficial tests of my own simply to see what the difference in speed was. Here are a few of my tests and results.
(Note: All tests were performed on the same machine without rebooting between tests)
Execute Test
Ran Internet Explorer to home page = 9 Seconds
Ran Google Chrome to home page = 5 Seconds
New Tab Test
Created a new Tab in Internet Explorer = 3 Seconds
Created a new Tab in Google Chrome = 2 Seconds
Surf Test
Opened the following sites in each browser in order. Waited for each page to finish loading before entering the next. Copied and pasted links to avoid time loss due to spelling errors.
Internet Explorer = 41 Seconds
Google Chrome = 31 Seconds
Some of the features Google Chrome has I like. I prefer the Chrome new tab page that shows your past sites you’ve gone to. I like that it seems a little more intuitive regarding what you are going to type into the address bar.
I won’t be moving all district users over to Chrome in the next couple months but it is definitely something to consider. I’m interested to see how Firefox compares. I’ll probably try that some day soon. I’d be more likely to deploy Firefox than Chrome. Not sure why.
Overall I have to say I’m liking Google Chrome and will be using it for a while to see if I truly like it more than Internet Explorer.
TechChucker's Brain Blast 
I also like chrome. However, I am not happy about the flash support in it or I should say – lack of. I just tried to download the latest version of flash player and it is not yet available for Chrome. We have standardized (at least for our staff) with Firefox. I find I rarely use IE anymore BUT still need it for management in our labs. (GPO)
Jen
I haven’t used Chrome much for anything beyond just simple browsing. I have found it won’t allow you to log into your Exchange web access account using the full account capabilities. You have to use the Light Access which is unacceptable to me. I still like the browser for simple things though. I have heard there is an ADM you can download to allow you to manage some parts of Firefox via Group Policy. I was going to take a look sometime to see if it would work.
I was just going to mention the ADM for Firefox. I’ve been giving it some thought myself, but the whole issue with keeping the browser and plugins up to date without admin privs may be more trouble than it is worth. As of this point, I’ll install Firefox on a case by case basis for staff only. Otherwise, we’re still using / stuck with IE for everybody else.
As a 2nd thought, I have just come up with a group policy that schedules automatic reboots. Pending that works well district wide, that could help the deployment of Firefox, and the updated plugins (however you install a plugin remotely I don’t know yet).
I don’t plan on looking into Chrome, as it hasn’t reached the level of trust for business use, at least in my opinion. Suitable for home use at most.
I might put Firefox out via a Group Policy published state for staff but not worry too much about the plugins. If staff want to use it they can but we will only support IE. I think Microsoft will end up changing IE soon enough to be a little faster and thus making a district wide change over wouldn’t be suitable. For quick browsing IE is a little disappointing and I can understand those who would just like to have another option. Although on the other hand, this is a business and they don’t always get to do what they want as employees as we have the whole of the business to worry about.
I’m still on the fence. We’ll see if I even have time to look more into it.
I like Chrome for my own uses for simple things but I agree, it’s not at a point where we can trust it as a business. Firefox has only just gotten to that status and that product still disappoints in the management of it.