Yeah… I couldn’t believe it when I read the news on TechCrunch and NextWeb this morning… but it’s true. Google are about to launch their browser Google Chrome. They’ve generated some PR in the form of a comic strip… which is a very entertaining and interesting read.
A few things come to mind:
- I don’t believe this is just an evolutionary move in the browser wars… this is quite revolutionary and will hit Microsoft’s IE quite hard over the next year or so.
- Essentially, this gives Google much more power than they already have and will help them define the web even more. The idea of an open source browser is by no means new, but its the modularity of Google Chrome and the way it interacts with web apps that will give it wings and see it taking market share from other browsers…
- This is another step in the direction of reducing the dependency on Operating Systems and moving onto the Cloud… where users store and interact with applications stored on the internet. Chrome will rely Google Gears to create multiple processes… that interact with the various apps.
Some of the features such as the re-purposed search bar (with suggestions) Omnibox and the new tab summary look to be very user-friendly and enhance the experience… and concepts like sandboxing processes will definitely increase the user’s security and privacy.
I’m really looking forward to using this… revolutionary stuff! Have a read through the comic it really is quite informative. More info here.
Update: BBC’s analysis
Update: Screenshots and clips of Google Chrome
02/09/2008 at 2:42 am Permalink
Good on google, although this raises fears (and certain eye brows) over monopoly propagation. Nevertheless, its certainly time Google came up with this. can’t wait till they start mass producing their own mobiles and laptops. or have they already done that?
It would be interesting how hard this will hit FF. IE as far as i can tell in terms of how often others around me and I use it, has been obliterated. Especially within the Mac community where Saffari is a piece of rubbish and IE refuses to upgrade their Mac compatible browser to anything later than 1990’s version.
Mind you, have you upgraded to FF 3 recently? what the hell is that about? half of my add-ons and browser apps have become redundant! did they get Microsoft to update it? My menu don’t seem to work either. I’m actually considering going back to FF 2.
02/09/2008 at 3:27 am Permalink
Nice one AbuJad… yeah completely agree… we’re moving from one monopoly into another… but it’s quite cool to see the creative destruction of the OS… step by step.
I only use IE for testing my sites… as 70-85% of people still use it (depending on which market) apparently most of them can’t be bothered with downloading FF.
I don’t mind FF3.. the main reason the add-ons don’t work yet is because the developers who created them haven’t updated them yet… but all in all it’s not too bad.
Did you try FF ubiquity? interesting app…
02/09/2008 at 8:02 pm Permalink
Well I’ve downloaded Google Chrome and so far it seems pretty good. No issues with it yet, but it doesn’t immediately seem any faster.
It has a very clean, simple interface and it looks like some of the keyboard short cuts are the same as in Firefox which is nice. I also like that it suggests your favourite sites when you open a new tab.
Any idea when the mac version will come out?
It will be very interesting to see who’s market share this eats into most; IE or Firefox. My gut feel is that the early adopters of this browser will be the same types of people who switched from IE to Firefox. I think it will be the people who are looking for an alternative from Internet Exploder and so this could hurt Firefox in terms of losing existing users and potentially losing out on the market looking for an IE alternative.
For the moment though Firefox has a lot going for it in terms of customisation around themes and add-ons; it might be a while before Google Chrome catches up on this.
03/09/2008 at 6:11 am Permalink
70-85% can’t be bothered ? thats a much higher market share than i expected. I suppose the previous commenter could be right. whats going to make those very 70% get bothered?
Seems FF is far more at risk than IE.
03/09/2008 at 4:32 pm Permalink
Yep.. agree with both you guys… FF as a browser is probably more at risk. But they’ve got a deal with Google taking them into 2011 for more financial support and backing. Mozilla remains a non-profit organisation… after all.
There’s word out there that Google is going to ‘buy’ it’s market-share and pay PC and laptop manufacturers to install it as a default on user’s PCs. That’s probably how it’ll eat into IE’s market-share.
The point is, this is not a tactical move by Google to displace IE or FF… this move is a strategic one to displace Microsoft as a whole and to dent the OS and desktop market. I’m sure we’ll be seeing some very strong API tie-ins into Google Docs, Maps, etc. which will allow users to manage all their daily tasks on the cloud… and avoid having to rely on OS like Windows and applications like MS Office. The concept of moving processes onto the Cloud started a few years back… most notably with Google Docs, Sheets..etc. but on the programming side all the AJAX heavy sites like FaceBook and Amazon’s S3 service… none of the scripts or programming processes are happening on our computers anymore. I’ve been a fan of ZoHo for a while and use it for a lot of my work… it gives you access to everything on the web from Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Video Conferencing, Project Management… even full database functionality. This move from Google is quite a big step in turning us into ubiquitous users of the web into a reality and into the mainstream. Don’t forget the first mobiles running on Android (Google’s mobile OS) will be out soon. I’m sure there’ll be a tie in between Chrome and Android too…
Of course… the intent from Google’s side is to sell more advertising on AdWords… by tying us in to all their free tools. It’s a pretty good strategy if you ask me… I don’t like monopolies and have worried about the control, power and information they have about ‘everything’… but at the end of the day these tools make all our lives easier.
Can we resist? we are all or soon will be GoogleSlaves…
03/09/2008 at 11:45 pm Permalink
Have downloaded chrome and used it for the 2nd day. Quite an interesting browser and must say that it is definitely a lot faster then IE. Perhaps some of the items that we will be missing will be the plug-in ecosystem of Firefox (Am a big user of Firebug, Foxmarks and some other developer tools). The browser landscape would definitely be something to watch for when Apple launch their Safari 4 browser (which is also based on web-kit).
The browser war will post a major headache for developers – imagine having to test for compatibility for IE6, 7 & 8, Firefox 2.x, 3, Safari 3 & 4, Opera….. In the mean time, guess i just have to install all the various version of the browser and find out which one i like most.