I experimented with some of the scripts, but didn’t have any luck getting them to work. Many of these can be quickly written, and using a beta product doesn’t help. Aaron Boodman, who wrote the post explaining how these scripts work, states that between 15-25% of the scripts will not work in Google Chrome, and that you should consider letting the author know.

Even if you have never used an extension before you might want to consider checking out Userscripts.org, which is the repository for all the Greasemonkey scripts. Simply click the install button, and you’ll be on your way to installing and using the simple productivity solutions.

What I still need in Chrome before I begin to use it more of the time include the following:

• A better experience. Currently, it is (like Firefox) a pain to use, compared to Safari.
• A faster experience. I figure users with slower connections like the speed of Chrome compared to Internet Explorer, but between Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, Chrome is remarkably slow.
• Options. Sure, there are options included like within Firefox, but many are unusable at this point or appear to be hastily integrated into the browser.

If stats are correct, anywhere from 11-14%, up to 21% of all Internet Users are still browsing the web with IE6. Generally, these are users in corporate and business settings, where the process of rolling out an update to IE7 or IE8 was skipped due to cost and compatibility issues. While the update is free, development on new programs to be compatible with the browser, including the support staff/development team costs can reach into the millions. Therefore, like Windows XP, these businesses will try to hang onto the version (as it works “perfectly fine”) for as long as possible.

A post from Google recently offers a brief explanation behind the lack of support for IE6, as well as their direction for the future. Beginning March 1st, Google Docs and Sites features may not work properly in other browsers. Rather than gently phasing out support of IE6, they are going with the approach of “we’re dropping compatibility (rather than support), so you must upgrade.”

IE7+, Firefox 3.0+, Chrome 4.0+, and Safari 3.0+ are the currently supported browsers of most sites around the web, although it might be better at this point if everyone moved away from Internet Explorer altogether. At the current rate of adoption and support timeframe, we’ll be dealing with a similar situation with IE7 in five years’ time. Microsoft will continue to support IE6 until 2014, 13 years after release. At the time of this writing, Internet Explorer 6 is still the most popular version of Internet Explorer, making up 20.99% of all browsers. Internet Explorer 8 comes in at 20.86% of all browsers, and 36.27% of Internet Explorer browsers. This information is according to Net Applications.

Should businesses skip Vista (and many are) and go directly to Internet Explorer 8, or switch operating systems/browsers altogether, the web may be given the opportunity to evolve at a faster rate. Flash may also be less prevalent in five to ten years’ time if enough websites stop using it.

The ultimate question is this: will businesses listen to a company that is ultimately trying to cause a huge disruption in the industry? Not likely. If the web apps built by many companies has been tested to be compatible with IE6 only, and they don’t see the benefits in the cost of upgrading to Windows 7 and IE8, why should they upgrade? Many companies refuse software updates for these reasons alone, and simply blocking access from web search, online office suites, and YouTube won’t necessarily persuade companies to upgrade.

Just five days after the official Version 4 release and about a month and a half since Version 3.0 was released, Google is trying to release as many updates as popular to the browser to ensure that it evolves quickly, already matching some of the many features found in other browsers from Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla.

Version 5 is now available, and it includes a number of new features for both Windows and Mac users (Linux users may have to wait a few weeks, as the latest development version is still in the 4.0-range). For the latest development version, please refer to either this page or the snapshots.

The main changes have been outlined on their Dev Channel. Because this is a developer version, it isn’t recommended that you test this unless you are willing to deal with crashes and unstable software. However, if you want to test the latest features of the browser, it may be wroth trying out.

Windows Version 5.0.307.1

The downloads will be moved to the default directory on Vista and Windows 7, except where it is the desktop.

Work has begun on a Content Settings window which, like other popular browsers, brings in additional options for changing how the browser deals with cookies, images, JavaScript, plugins, and popup windows.

Macintosh Version 5.0.307.1

The following changes have been made or addressed in this version for Mac.

• Improved plugin stability.
• Fix crash that happened when tabs were dragged around.
• A fix for %cpu in task manager.
• Cookies manager is given a search field.
• Copying of large images had been made more robust.
• Task manager resizing behavior has been improved.

Are you using Google Chrome, and if so, what features need to be added to convince you that it is one of the best browsers?