A fresh take on the browser

Other sources:

• Wikipedia: Google
• Wikipedia: Google Chrome
• Wikipedia: Google Android

Google have a saying “launch early and iterate.” This approach is apparently usually limited to their engineers but it seems it applies to the postroom as well! As many people have already read in the blogosphere, the "send button" on a comic book introducing the new Google Chrome open source browser was hit a bit early. Google believe in access to information for everyone, and now have made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. The beta version of Google Chrome will be launched today in over 100 countries.

This is the biggest news in the browser space since Firefox started to catch up with Internet Explorer's lead. This is the new start of the browser war....

Why is Google launching Google Chrome?

Because they believe "it can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web".

Everyone at Google, and most people elsewhere, spend much of their time working inside a browser. We all email, search and chat in a browser. Then, again on a browser, in our lunch break and after work in our spare time, we read the news, shop and keep in contact with friends and family. After spending so much time online, the Google team began to seriously think about what kind of browser could exist if one was created from scratch and built by using the best elements already available. Google realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What was really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what Google set out to build.

Google designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. The browser doesn't matter to many people as that is only the tool that runs the pages, sites and applications. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. Like Google Homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, Google built the foundation of a browser that is able to run today's complex web applications much better. The tab of each website is in an isolated "sandbox", and this means that one tab is prevented from crashing another and what's more it will provide improved protection from rogue sites. Additionally, there is an improved speed and responsiveness across the board. A more powerful V8 JavaScript engine, JavaScript engine, has been created to power the next generation of web applications. That is for those that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

The best part is that this is just the beginning -- Google Chrome is far from done! Google Chrome beta version for Windows will be released and Google are waiting to hear your thoughts... The versions for Mac and Linux will be released shortly. Chrome is the open source desktop that, for many years, people have been asking from Google. Linux supporters have been asking for Google to release a consumer version of the Linux OS that Google uses internally. Google has not yet provided this but because the browser is becoming as flexible as the desktop, Chrome, in many ways, is the answer to the open source OS that people have been calling for.

Google have used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, they are making all of their code open source as well. Google are determined to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

What will this mean for Firefox?

Google is one of the biggest supporters of Firefox not only financially but in development terms. According to rumours, "just last week Google extended its support of the Mozilla foundation until 2011".
Even so, Mozilla may not be high in the sky. Read what CEO at Mozilla said.....

Will Google, with all its history and flare, be able to make a success of Chrome greater than Mozilla did with Firefox? We'll have to wait and see..!

What does this mean for Safari?

Chrome is built on the open source web kit browser the same as Safari and Firefox. Perhaps it will mean that Apple's hopes in the browser space are finished or perhaps due to the common platform with Safari Chrome will give it a boost?

Do we really need another browser? There's Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Camino, Flock and many others.

Well,the web is always getting better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and hopefully it will contribute to making the web even better.

So check again tomorrow to try Google Chrome for yourself. Google will post an update as soon as it's ready.

Pros and Cons

Undoubtedly, like any new browser this will mean more work for web developers. It may be based on open standards but undoubtedly web application designers are going to have to take into account the differences that Chrome will give to get the best from the browser.

Hopefully we will see Chrome as part of Google's open source Android platform for mobiles especially as there is a great need for better browsers for mobiles.