Google will be launching a new open source browser, Google Chrome, on Tuesday. Google’s Sundar Pichai & Linus Upson write:
“Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We 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 we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”
Here’s a comic book that explains Google Chrome.
Some have asked if Google Chrome will impact Google’s (financial) support for Firefox. Google’s search-related payments to Mozilla make up a significant portion of Mozilla’s revenue. Google is deflecting these questions by playing the choice card:
“The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better.”
On the open source front, Google announced that they are using components from Firefox and Apple’s WebKit. Since Chrome is also open source licensed (not sure what license), they hope Apple & Mozilla et al. will build upon ideas from Google Chrome.
Let’s see what Chrome looks like tomorrow!
09.03.08 at 4:52 pm
I have yet to see if Chrome is really that much faster than either Firefox or IE… in any case it will most likely be FireFox that is hardest hit by Chrome’s release
09.03.08 at 9:09 pm
Kingdom, agree…folks using IE today aren’t the type of people excited by “new” browser technology.
I haven’t noticed that it is “much” faster than FF. But the underlying technology is pretty cool. As a geek, I’m willing to put up with some lack of function because of what’s under the covers…well, at least for the next few days ;-)