Google Chrome is now available in alpha for Linux, and I downloaded it for Ubuntu. Despite the fact that I was running it on my rather underpowered , it started in the blink of an eye. Additionally, any JavaScript-heavy sites like or were so responsive that it's almost unbelievable.

Does that sound familiar? That's right. It's just like how Firefox used to be.

Run Chrome and Firefox side-by-side, and Firefox is embarrassingly slow. It's not even in the same league. It's an old man on the running track trying to compete against a sprightly 20-year-old.

I think Firefox has lost the plot. Mozilla have several grand aims, and there's much to be admired, but they've forgotten how to make a decent browser. I feel plenty of loyalty for them, because they've done more than anybody else to further the cause of open source software in the real world.

But when I tried Chrome, as incomplete as it was, I realized I'd found a replacement for Firefox. As soon as it gets to beta under Linux, I will switch to Chrome. No question. It's just infinitely better. It's like when we all switched from Alta Vista (or ) to back in the early noughties. The king is dead! Long live the king!