Speed
The decision, taken today in the Default Netbook App Selection session at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, was based on a variety of reasons not least of which favoured the good code base, upstream maintainance and the browser speed. The wide plugin base and the flexibility of webkit were also seen as plus.
Concerns
Issues raised concerning Chromium's non-native look, lack of support for native scrollbars and issues with printing will lead the Netbook team to decide, by Alpha 3, whether or not it will remain default for the full cycle. One area that will certainly need consideration will be compatability with the new global menu bar coming in the netbook edition.
During the discussion other alternative browsers mooted were Midori - which was praised for its speed and active development but untimely rejected due to lack of user awareness and the surging popularity of Chromium.
Chromium to be default browser in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition
