Extensions promised for Chrome

One of Firefox's initial claims to fame is the fact that the browser can be extended with a multitude of plug-ins, and even though Microsoft caught up with Internet Explorer, Firefox still has an extension edge over Google's new Chrome Web browser.

For now.

"We don't have that in the beta today, but we definitely plan an extension API," or application programming interface, said Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president of product management, at the Chrome launch event in Mountainview, California, on Tuesday. "It is one of the things we will get to next."

Firefox extensions cover a wide swath of abilities, from synchronising bookmarks to debugging Web site performance to showing detailed exposure data for online photographs. The extensibility has attracted scads of programmers, too, which is strategically important for most computing efforts.

Google, no doubt, envies the Firefox extension assets. But it's hard to imagine the company mustering much enthusiasm for one of the most popular Firefox extensions, AdBlock Plus, which suppresses many advertisements.

Google has a strong focus on giving Web users a good experience -- indeed, it said its studies show that users find the text adverts placed next to search results an overall improvement. But Google's business depends on advertising, and its $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition is geared to give the company strength in just the sort of online display advertisements that AdBlock is designed to counteract.

Extensions shouldn't be confused with a related technology, plug-ins, which includes software such as Sun Microsystems' Java, Microsoft's Silverlight, and Adobe Systems' Flash. Existing plug-ins work in Chrome, Pichai said.