1. Downloading and installing Chrome was very easy. When I installed Chrome, it recognised that Firefox was my default browser and asked me did I want to import my settings. When I said yes it imported all my Bookmarks and saved passwords, which meant I was up and running straight away.
2. The main reason I wanted to try Chrome was that I had heard that it was quicker and it was. But it was only marginally quicker  and for most pages there was no real difference.
3. I did like the Chrome interface. It is very clean, simple to use and has some nice features like opening multiple pages on startup.
4. While there are not the same number of extensions available for Chrome, most of the useful ones are.

Having used Chrome for a week, yesterday I switched back to Firefox to compare again. The first thing Firefox did was ask me to upgrade to the latest version which was released during the last week (3.6.10).

When I switched back I could not perceive any change in speed (might be the upgrade to 3.6.10). Also with a quick search I was able to get Firefox to open multiple pages on startup.

At the end of the day I have decided to stay with Firefox for several reasons;

1. For everyday use there is no perceivable speed difference.
2. The availability of extensions and a strong Open-Source development community is a big plus.
3. In some ways I view Google the same as I view Microsoft. I don’t think it’s a good idea for Microsoft to dominate the Operating System market and the Applications market. It stifles innovation and allows for abuse of a dominant market position. In the same way I don’t think it would be good for Google to dominate the Internet Applications market and the browser market. Don’t get me wrong I am a big fan and user of Gmail, Google Apps and Android.
4. As a final note I have seen the latest Firefox 4 Beta and it appears to  have a similar clean, user friendly interface. So there is a clear path for the future.

Here is another useful article which addresses the same issue.

Finally, just to throw the cat among the pigeons, Microsoft have just released Internet Explorer 9 Beta. So that’s another one I’ll have to check out.

But there is a problem, because the information is being presented to me in an organised, readable format and most importantly on a regular basis, I find myself being distracted by really interesting snippets of information and not concentrating on the task at hand. As a result I have had to dramatically reduce the number of times these utilities update each day.

Now don’t get me wrong keeping up-to-date with what’s going on in your business sector is really important, but you have to achieve the right balance.