I downloaded and installed Chrome the other day. Chrome is the new Google browser.
I’m not going to talk at length or postulate on the strategy behind Google releasing a browser – this has been covered on many other blogs. What I am going to mention is how you release a piece of software with a personality – a Brand Personality – built into it.
Google is a master of this. Microsoft is terrible. Various other software vendors fall in between these two extremes. Apple is a genius at it, although in a very different way.
Here are some examples of Google’s Brand Personality creeping into the Chrome product…
1. When you click on the Task Manager in the Developer section there is a small button that lets you see some more detailed information. Typically this is generally called ‘more information’. Or, ‘more data’. Or something very Microsofty, ‘Additional technical information’.
In Chrome, its…
2. When you open the ‘incognito’ window (the one that allows you to surf as a spy – ok, you’re not actually a spy, it just doesn’t let other people spy on you), there is a list of things that going ‘incognito’ doesn’t protect you against. This list is important as it’s about security and security is a serious issue. Look at the last two entries…
3. When you choose the Options item from the main menu, a new window appears with some options in it. There are three tabs. Usually these tabs are broken down by functionality – maybe a ‘General’ tab, a ‘Security’ tab etc. In Chrome it’s…
4. When you try and uninstall most software products it’s a pretty dull, unemotional affair. You click through the uninstall procedure and hope that the annoying software goes away. Chrome is easy to uninstall, but it’s the first software product that’s genuinely polite about it…
These are small things but they speak volumes about the personality of the product and company you are dealing with. You don’t have to like them – not everyone will. But at least they stand for SOMETHING.
The difference between companies that inject a bit of their own personality into their products and those that don’t…. is courage.
And that also speaks volumes.
