Thank You, Chrome Team

Chrome has been a regular part of my digital life ever since its initial release in 2008. In fact, the launch of Chrome was instrumental in securing the first TechCrunch feature for the company I was working with at the time.

We celebrated with a toast. Chrome was excellent, and we quickly became dedicated users.

However, with the passage of time, my initial enthusiasm began to diminish as Chrome became noticeably slower, more resource-intensive, and generally less responsive.

This decline mirrored a similar trend I observed with Google Search, where a fundamentally strong concept was gradually altered to prioritize revenue generation, often at the expense of usability, speed, and overall user satisfaction (further discussion on this topic can be found here).

As someone who readily expresses frustration, I’ve been quite displeased with the changes to Chrome, despite never having spent any money on the software. I attempted to gather a few of my past complaints about Chrome on Twitter, but discovered at least nine instances since May, which prompted a sense of regret (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine). Therefore, I will refrain from dwelling on those past grievances.

What caused Chrome to change? I’m uncertain. Over time, its demand for system memory, tendency to lag, and general annoyances increased. Nevertheless, because I heavily relied on G Suite, I continued to use Chrome.

Now, that may no longer be necessary. This week, Google announced a series of upcoming Chrome updates that are truly impressive to review and consider their potential impact. It appears Google has thoroughly examined Chrome’s underlying code, identifying opportunities to enhance its speed, reduce memory consumption, and improve its overall intelligence.

I am genuinely thrilled about these developments.

What improvements are on the horizon? Drawing information from Google’s Chromium blog, rather than the more broadly accessible announcement (with thanks to The Verge for highlighting these updates), here are the key changes that stand out to me (Bold text indicates emphasis from TechCrunch in each quoted section):

Google, you understand me perfectly. I feel truly acknowledged. Thank you.

Once things return to normal, I would like to treat everyone involved in this effort to lunch.

Absolutely!

I didn’t realize I needed these features, but I certainly do. And I eagerly anticipate their arrival.

In conclusion, as I compose this brief message within Chrome, I am incredibly excited about the New and Improved Chrome. I will share more detailed thoughts after some testing, but for now, hooray!