Is Google Chrome the New IE6?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397158,00.asp
Let me tell you about a browser. An innovative browser that was the first to implement new Web technologies that allowed for greater interactivity. A browser with a striking new interface. Chrome? No: Internet Explorer 6.
Could Google be hurting openness of the web by creating Chrome-only features, such as its "improved" version of HTTP, SPDY? Could these new developments eventually be adopted by other browsers, perhaps to everyone's benefit, much like Microsoft's proprietary ActiveX technology paving the way for ajax?
How about Chrome-only apps?
Chrome is certainly a fine product, but this article does raise some interesting questions.
The article makes some good points, but as far as I can tell, SPDY is an open protocol and there's open source code available in case others want to implement it.
For example, I believe that Mozilla Firefox 11 will include SPDY, and Amazon's Silk browser does, too.
So I don't think in the case of SPDY they're hurting the openness of the web.
If we do see Chrome-only apps emerge, that could be another story.
Especially now that web browsers are embedded in apps increasingly.