Re: Plugins/extensions
I think Google just sit around thinking up shit that other browser makers don't come up with due to budgetry constraints, an understandable lack of specialised staff in that area, and finally a vague sense of knowing where to stop.
Google just plough ahead anyway so they can claim their browser has all the standards, hopefully enough devs will use the shiny APIs, and then they'll get end users and their precious data that way.