Is the Future Chrome? - Where do we go from here?

So how does all this leave the long term future looking? It's not an easy call. The latest versions of Mozilla and Internet Explorer each boast significant improvements, particularly in their JavaScript handling. This provides direct competition to Chrome, especially since these products are so well established, and the new kid on the block has a vast amount of ground to make up before it can be said to represent a real threat to either.

However, Google has a key advantage over both: most Web users visit Google's site many times a day. It is absolutely central to almost everybody's Internet experience. This means that Google is in prime position to persuade people of the benefits of changing to Chrome.

That they are serious about performing this persuasion is demonstrated by the very way in which Chrome was announced to the world. Not many major software releases are introduced in comic book format, but in typically maverick fashion Google employed graphic artist Scott Mcleod to produce the press release that heralded Chrome.

This isn't as banal as it sounds: McLeod's 38-page comic is genuinely engaging. It's also filled with real content, describing in a refreshingly accessible style both the philosophy behind Chrome and the technologies that Google hope will guarantee its success.

If it is to believed, there is a development effort of real substance and an encompassing vision underpinning Chrome, all of which promises to revolutionize the way the Web works. People looking towards the future could do a lot worse than to start from here.