Ubuntu Might Replace Firefox with Google Chrome

Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution, is considering dropping its current default browser Firefox for Google Chrome. Different industry sources are reporting that "Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 might not feature Firefox as the browser of choice, and will instead offer Google's Chrome as the default Internet browser".

Google Chrome is widely considered faster than Firefox, that is why it can be seen as a better choice for netbooks. However, Ubuntu may consider shipping Chromium, the open source project on which Google Chrome is based. Google Chrome is not completely open source, Google takes the Chromium source code and adds on the Google name and logo, an auto-updater system, an opt-in option to send Google usage statistics and crash reports and RLZ-tracking which transmits information in encoded form to Google like when and where Chrome has been downloaded.

Google Chrome also ships with a bunch of proprietary software (like Adobe Flash) and drivers, this may be an issue for Canonical, which provides Ubuntu only with free and open source software applications.