Google Chrome: Anyone else find it unsettling that Google will follow Microsoft's route by having their browser ship with PCs? Times Online reported a few days ago that Google is considering paying OEMs to ship PCs with Chrome preinstalled next year when the browser comes out of beta. UnGoogle-like behavior in an effort to increase market share of the browser. Why not just make it insanely good and have people naturally flock to it?

I tried using it as my default browser for all Google apps, leaving a Chrome window open at all times with Google Reader, Gmail and sometimes iGoogle open but in the end, it just wasn't that useful to me. I already have FireFox, Opera and IE fighting for my browsing time with FF acting as my default browser (except when Youtube / Flash starts messing up). Declined to install Chrome when I replaced my laptop, maybe the browser will warrant an install when it comes out of beta.

Or maybe I'll never download it. If Lunascape becomes a more credible browser after it comes out of the alpha stage, I may not need to run IE, Opera, FF and Chrome just for testing purposes as Lunascape allows you to pick from the various rendering engines.

BlackBerry OS: Played with the BlackBerry Storm last night at the Wired Store. The click touchscreen feels surprisingly good but as voiced already by many reviewers, typing on it is a total PITA. A more interesting release by RIM is the BlackBerry Bold which has been compared in stature to what the Treo 650 was to Palm. I started this entry with the thought that the BlackBerry OS will go the way of the Palm OS, into obscurity but it looks as though the good folks over at WMExperts already beat me to it.

The one safety net RIM has is the penetration of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server in corporate America. But if the phone's OS doesn't change drastically, IT administrators will see increasing demand for the iPhone, WinMo devices or even the G1 in another generation or two. BlackBerry does the whole mobile messaging thing extremely well, but users are calling for additional capability, capabilities the iPhone made mainstream. Especially with a device like the Storm, the BBOs is definitely showing its age (this statement out of a WinMo user's mouth hah!).

I wonder whether a touchscreen BlackBerry is a step in the right direction. Will users who are so adept at typing on the physical keyboard want to switch to a pure touchscreen? The Storm seems to be a lame entrant into the mobile space in an effort to woo iPhone users, hardware is sort of there, but the OS has a ways to go. BlackBerry needs to figure out where exactly it wants to position itself in the future rather than dabbling in Apple's space.

Microsoft: On another note, as a WinMo user, HTC / TAT's TouchFlo interface can only go so far. 6.5 better have some huge changes in store and since 7 has been delayed they better blow people's minds when it's finally released. I've seen all the screenshots but that doesn't translate to a full experience. Not sure why Microsoft feels compeled to enter the hardware space as it can't seem to even fight Apple on the OS alone...

Microsoft... help me out here. I vouch for you guys all the time and sometimes I just get tired defending WinMo. I never had any love for Vista so I never bothered defending that POS. Live Mesh is great though...