Race for MyTop still wide open

When I wrote – Chrome – Another brick in the Wall – last Wednesday, I had merely read the announcements but I hadn’t downloaded Chrome or used it.

I now have and, not only am I disappointed, but I’d actually not advise any readers to change browsers – well, not yet anyway. Installing Chrome is simple and quick. The display of thumbnails for your ten most visited sites looks very pretty. But, in practice, I’ve got hundreds of bookmarks all arranged into various topics. Chrome doesn’t handle that whereas as Internet Explorer does.

When I viewed a video using Chrome I got a ‘juddering’ replay – something I don’t normally get. The other downside I found is that one of the stated benefits of Chrome is that it keeps the sites you have visited open so that you can immediately switch back to any of them. But, if those sites use Flash they will all be operating even though you are not looking at them; which really can start to slow your system down.

The one thing I was really looking forward to was the Web services launch facility – Google Gears. But all it does is put a shortcut on your desktop – not within the Chrome webtop. For apps, I’ve been putting shortcuts on my desktop for years. I suppose it is a progress to now do it for Gmail, Facebook etc…but it’s hardly the mega advance I expected towards the achievement of my Mytop

I was also very interested to read all the comments about the upcoming launch of Google Android (which shares the same engine as Chrome) by T-Mobile on an HTC handset next month. “They will land with a fizzle rather than a bang”. See FT 6th Sept 08 - Google’s Android fails to connect with critics and Phone will launch with big goals but the buzz is missing. I’d hoped that Android might be a step towards Mobitop – where MyTop meets is Martini Moment.

I believe that the biggest prize up for grabs is for the company who creates the most effective Mytop and goes on to apply this to all devices, including Mobile Internet Devices (MobiTop), TVs, smartphones, laptops etc.

Microsoft won the Desktop. Google won the WebTop. But the race for the prize for winning MyTop is still wide open. I agree with Steve Ballmer of Microsoft here "The real question is not what’s going to happen but who’s going to win and how it’s going to happen.”

Footnote - There are many articles this weekend celebrating Google's Tenth Birthday. Google spins world wide web in the Sunday Times is as good as it gets. Any reader of HotViews over the last few years will recognise the themes and sentiment! Comments like " this brave new world of cloud computing will mean all your stuff will be accessible all the time, everywhere. Updates will be automatic and free. It’s a revolution in computing".

Just remember you heard it all here first!