I made an effort today to do my weekly routine from the Chrome Browser on my Linux Laptop. I had to install it and sign-in and set up some extensions, but now it looks and acts pretty much just like my Chromebook.
It was more of an experiment to prove that I can interact with my note system from anywhere. Given access to Google Chrome, it’s even more seamless.
On one hand, I revel in the familiarity of a common system that gets the tool out of the way and lets me do the work I want to do. On the other, I worry about lock-in and the ability to convert this information to other formats or access it from other entry points.
A few years ago I used two browsers regularly. One for work and one for personal use. Separate bookmarks, separate browsing history and separate saved data. After I left my previous job I went back to one browser for everything.
Now that I have a common bookmark solution in LinkDing and a common password solution in Vaultwarden I may be able to segregate work and home again without major pain points. There will always be specific things saved in one browser or the other, but I can address those things if they become problematic. Keeping my work life separate from my home life is probably healthy.
I can’t tell if I’m convincing myself or if I’m just trying to make up reasons to use the Chrome Browser everyplace except work, where it’s frowned upon and where my extensions can be audited and removed if deemed dangerous.
Truthfully, that last thing is probably a good enough reason to do it.