By Extension, Chrome Battles Firefox

I wrote a Firefox extension that has (significantly) more than a million downloads. I turned over maintenance to another developer because the Firefox extension platform is so difficult to work with. If Google has really made extension development comparatively easier, it will be a great boon for Chrome.

I have only glanced over the docs, but I suspect that the Chrome extension APIs don't have comparably extensive access to internal browser code as Firefox extensions do. For most extensions this won't matter, but for certain uses Firefox will probably stay ahead in this area, at least for a while.

Another big win for Chrome is that there is no approval process to get on their addon site as opposed to Mozilla. Mozilla can take weeks to months to get out of the sandbox (although to be fair, Mozilla is trying quickly to better the experience with a new self hosting option and making it somewhat easier for users to find sandboxed addons), and unless your addon gets some secondary approval, you need to go through the process again to push up updates.

I don't know how easy this would be in Chrome, but with Firefox + Jetpack, you get a full fledged Image Editor in 14 LOC.

However, the extension review process is the real pull for me. I've waited between 2 weeks and 2 entire months for my Firefox extension to get accepted, so I'll take instantaneous anyday.

The only thing they haven't nailed is the Extensions site: which isn't wonderful to navigate quite yet.

Chrome's TOS states that Google retains the right to uninstall any extensions in the clients' computers.

I'm amazed there isn't a single mention of Jetpack in the article.

Neither does it mention how ultimately gimped Chrome extensions are. UI modifications like vertical tabs, for instance, would be impossible in the Chrome model.

Ultimately, I think a combined full-fledged extension mechanism + Jetpack is the best way. Provide the ease for those that can do with a limited API, and the power for those that need it.