My thoughts on the matter are Chrome-driven. As an administrator I frequently enter URLs into the URL bar to get to where I am going. I also like that Chrome uses the URL bar as an input to Google Search, meaning I don't need to waste screen real-estate on both a search field and an URL bar, since at any given time I'm really only likely to care about one function or the other.
More interesting to me was a link to a page which also discussed future browser design, calling such a design a "debris-free browser".
Interesting because the very first diagram he presents:
...bears a shocking resemblance to Google Chrome:
Of course he carries on and proceeds to clutter it up. But it is interesting, and perhaps educational, that the ideal he starts with is closest to Chrome.
Personally I've abandoned Firefox. Chrome works for 95% of my personal browsing, probably because 75% of that personal browsing is within the framework of google web services: Gmail, Google Reader, and Google search. I keep IE around because there are still many, many web interfaces for old switches and other equipment which require IE either explicitly or implicitly through failing to work with other browsers. This gives me a visual separation between "work" and "non-work" contexts.
I don't have Firefox installed any more, and frankly I don't miss it.
