Weekly Poll: How Quickly Would You Try Out a Brand New Browser?

Around 3.5 years ago, the world started buzzing about a new web browser: Google Chrome. Google had sponsored Mozilla Firefox for years, and much of the world was still browsing on Microsoft Internet Explorer 6. Chrome came out first on Windows, and took its time coming to Linux and Mac. And rather than having more features than other browsers (like Flock tried), Chrome stripped browsing down to its essentials and had almost no features other than speed. Seemed like the prospects for the new browser were rather slim.

Then, we all tried it, got hooked, and can’t look back. As much as I’d like to love Safari or the latest versions of Firefox, it’s Chrome’s stability and speed that keeps me coming back. I can’t hardly imagine switching to a new browser … unless it significantly improved on Chrome’s performance.

That said, I try out new apps all the time. I’ve even run Opera for a bit, and keep giving Safari extended tries every so often. I believe I downloaded Chrome the first day it was available, and I’m running the beta versions of Chrome, Safari, and Firefox on my main computer right now. So, I’d likely try out a new browser as soon as one came out, even if just to see what it was like. That’s why it’s so surprising to me to see complaints from IE 6 users about sites not working for them; I feel anxious if I’m not on the very latest version of my favorite software.

So, how about you? If a brand new browser came out tomorrow that was faster, better, and would make you healthy, wealthy, and wise, would you download it immediately? Or would you wait to see if all the tech insiders quickly scrambled back to their old favorite browsers and left the new contender behind?