Of course, not everyone was pleased. Some have criticized Chrome’s lack of a built-in email client. But that makes sense when you consider that Google wants Chrome to showcase their lineup of web applications. Remember GMail?

Some have complained about the installer, the lack of plug-ins, and other weaknesses. Many of those criticisms are valid, but others strike me as odd. I think that a free program which is still in beta should be forgiven for a few deficiencies.

Google seems to be committed to Chrome, and I would expect many of the complaints to be addressed before very long. Keep in mind that this version of Chrome is just the beginning for Google and they are planning for the long term. As for me, I appreciate having a new alternative to Internet Explorer for those of us who don’t like Firefox.

The study, by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, states that only 14% of users stick with dial-up because broadband isn’t available in their area. 35% stick with dial-up because they can’t afford broadband. 19% say they wouldn’t upgrade for any reason.

I expect this study to be used to justify decreased spending on broadband construction. After all, why expand broadband access if people just aren’t interested?

Not All Broadband Was Created Equal

But people often talk as if everyone has the same broadband options. They don’t. Choices can vary widely depending on area but tend to fall into categories:

• dial-up
• low-speed broadband (slow DSL or wireless)
• ordinary broadband (DSL or cable modem)
• high-speed broadband (such as FIOS)

Contrary to what you might think, pricing does not increase on the way up that list. Prices vary depending on area (and what the market will bear), not on transfer speeds. I have seen “broadband” that is only marginally faster than dial-up, yet costs many times more. In fact, I have found that low-speed broadband is often among the most expensive options available. This discourages the very people who ought to be the most interested in upgrading.

So Who Wants Broadband?

What about the people who are likely customers for broadband? Not everyone has the same needs or demands, and not everyone can justify the same expenses. Think about these four categories of people:

• People who have dial-up and feel it is all they need
• People who have dial-up and can’t afford or can’t justify the expense of broadband
• People who have dial-up, but would buy broadband if it were available
• People who have broadband

I know people who fall in each category. Only the people in the last category have broadband, but notice that only the people in the first category are uninterested.

So What Can You Do?

Sadly, not much. This is a case where the free market doesn’t help much; initial costs are so enormous that only the biggest companies need apply. And those companies have already proven that they aren’t interested. I have seen people suggest on message forums (in all seriousness) that people who don’t have broadband in their area should move. I’ve also seen people suggest that neighbors should band together and raise the money to wire their area for broadband. That’s not likely to work unless your neighbors are millionaires.

I feel quite gloomy about the future of broadband in the United States. I’m afraid that we are slowly moving to a divided Internet. There are already many websites that won’t work with dial-up connections, even though there is no practical reason why. As broadband penetration increases, the remaining dial-up users will be locked out from ever increasing portions of the Internet. And those users will likely be written off as unimportant and irrelevant.

For those compatibility reasons, I eventually made the switch to Firefox (although I did add some of the Opera specific features using plugins). Firefox is an excellent browser, but small and fast aren’t adjectives often used to describe it. With the release of Opera 9.5, I decided to give Opera another look. Opera 9.5 features a new look and a new rendering engine. Every web site I have tried has rendered perfectly, even some e-commerce sites that confounded earlier versions. The user interface feels very responsive, and web pages scroll very smoothly.

One area in which Opera has always excelled is keyboard shortcuts. You can do just about anything in Opera using only the keyboard. The new version improves on the old behavior by more clearly highlighting elements when you select them with the keyboard. One minor difference is that Opera 9.5 disables single key shortcuts by default. If you prefer the old behavior, you can re-enable the single key shortcuts using the preferences menu.

Opera 9.5 also includes an alpha version of Opera Dragonfly, a very promising web development tool. It has similarities to Firebug or the Web Inspector included in Safari, but could potentially become more powerful than either one. I especially like the command line feature, which allows you to execute JavaScript commands interactively. The current version of Dragonfly is alpha, meaning that there are missing features and rough edges. One weakness is no clear way to exit Dragonfly once you have activated it. The less than obvious solution is to use CTRL+F4 when the Dragonfly window is in focus.

I am quite impressed by Opera 9.5, and Opera has once again become my default browser. Opera 9.5 is available as a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris.