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Google to launch Chrome, Web Browser

Posted September 3rd, 2008 by Chris Clarke

Filled under: Web

Google announced Monday that it was going to release a beta of it’s Web Browser yesterday, or today once we account for the time zones. It’s not out yet, but do expect a quick review once it is. Perhaps one of the interesting things is that they actually used a comic book to introduce it which can be found here - Google Chrome Comic.

The web browser entitled Google Chrome will be open source and will take elements from Mozilla’s Gecko / Firefox, Apples Safari / Web Kit and even Internet Explorer. It will have the usual features such as tabs, and I think we can assume it will have the Google-powered phishing filter and such that come built into Mozilla Firefox, and I also expect a Google Search box. The browser is also promising faster speed, better stability and more powerful JavaScript. It will have Gears built in. It will also take a feature from Internet Explorer by utilising sandboxing for each tab which should help in the fight against malware by limiting its access to the Operating System. (although I think Internet Explorer just sandboxes the entire process, and not the individual tabs)

Now, I’m happy to see Google enter the browser space. Diversity and choice can only help the web and if done right, it won’t affect coding process for the web designers / developers with bug after bug (like IE, grr). I do however have a few concerns / comments / questions.

  1. Will Google’s AdSense ads target based on browsing history now? Since its open-source, I guess if this happens, someone can just strip it out and release it fairly easily. It would be a privacy policy nightmare I’m sure.
  2. What does this mean with the inclusion of WebKit / KHTML in Android? Will the Google Browser replace this?
  3. Why now? It has been rumored and denied for years now that this was / wasn’t coming. Why now suddenly? What has changed?
  4. Will I have the option of mapping functions to non-Google services? Since Google has products and services in several common spaces, its possible that things like the Mail button will be tied to Gmail, the search engine tied to Google, the bookmarks tied to Google notebook?, the RSS functions tied to Google Reader and so on. Can I change these? (lets disregard that I use Google for all that besides the bookmarks which I don’t use anyway, except to manage the link page in this blog where I use Delicious)
  5. The browser promises better memory management but is 31 processes for 30 tabs really that much better? Or, am I more likely to run out of memory? I mean a process - doesn’t that load into memory more then just the page data? I guess I don’t know what I’m talking about here - I code in PHP afterall - I don’t have to worry about this.
  6. Google’s pages are not exactly known for their conformance to standards, I hope the browser does a better job. Considering they are apparently using WebKit, we are probably safe there.
  7. Will this work under Linux? What about Mac OS X? — seems its going to be available on both platforms eventually.

I think Google is in a good position to make a dent in Internet Explorer’s market share (and any browser is a good alternative - well the main ones), due to a combination of brand recognition, that almost everyone uses Google Search at least, and resources. I’m also hoping that this doesn’t hurt Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera but I guess it’s inevitable that some users will switch.

Giood luck, Google! I think we’ll be holding you to the “Don’t be evil!” policy though.

Yeah, I guess that’s all I had to say. Good night!

One Response to “Google to launch Chrome, Web Browser”

  1. saito Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 am

    thanks