There’s been a great deal written already about Google Chrome, Google’s new internet browser. Those who hype it ‘up’ are taking the ‘iPhone’ line: Chrome will save the world, cure super-aids and make first contact with alien life, stopping off to rescue a kitten from a tree.

From the technical side, we have several clients that are involved in open source, and I’m a fan. Google’s ‘separate tabs, separate processes’ approach is also a good one. I’ve downloaded a copy of Chrome to my windows machine at home. While I haven’t seen any major advantages over Firefox just yet, I’m sure I will.

Some are taking the line that all big corporations are evil, and point towards Google’s inherant advantage in beta-testing. Google has a vast amount of information on internet-usage, taken from its own servers (something Google went to pains to point out itself). And how many of the articles written about Chrome have been thinking about their own Google-rankings? Do we think Google is going to allow Chrome to rank low on search-listings? Not likely.

And you can’t deny the marketing genius of Google’s comical launch material. The inquirer pointed out that the European map contained therein appeared to show Denmark annexing most of Germany. A cynical part of me believes that even this could have been a cunning PR stunt. And I’m writing about it, aren’t I? Oh…. the cunning devils!

Apropos of this, I’ll leave you with what I think is the best piece of advertising I’ve seen this year: www.yearbookyourself.com. This just goes to show that, with enough creativity, marketing actually can be both enjoyable and engaging.