Whenever I give a presentation, I try to turn off my desktop icons just to get rid of a distraction (and clutter) for my audience. However, I haven’t started hiding my taskbar yet. This past Tuesday night, I spoke at the Cleveland WPF User Group, and one of our regulars noticed an icon on my toolbar - a Google Chrome icon! Yes, I am a Microsoft MVP… yes, I like Microsoft’s tools. But at the same time, I don’t have to use only Microsoft products - there are times when I will use others’ products.

So why do I have Google Chrome pinned on my Windows 7 taskbar? I’m a web developer, and it’s only natural for me to have more than one web browser. (On my primary work machine, I have at least 5 desktop browsers plus a few mobile emulators - cross-browser web development can be so much fun!) I have Internet Explorer 8 on my laptop, because it comes with the operating system. But lately, I’ve been spending more time in Google Chrome, as I’ve grown accustomed to its interface and it’s growing on me more and more.

I presented on Google Chrome at the Web Development SIG this past September, and I’ve been using it as my primary web browser on at least one of my machines since a few months after it came out. The quirky part of my setup though with using Google Chrome is that my default search engine is … wait for it… bing! As much as I love using Google search, it’s time to expand my horizons and give bing a chance. (And yes, this came out at the Web Dev SIG in September, but I can take the teasing that people dish.)

So why is Chrome pinned to my taskbar? The pin makes it easier to run my current primary browser. And now you know the answer to … Is that Google Chrome on Sarah’s taskbar? Why is it there?