Google Launches Chrome Web Browser

Web browsers are like religions and politics, best not discussed at a dinner party. For some reason, certain web surfers actually care a great deal about their web browser whether they are attached to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari or Linux-based Opera. Now, Google has released the beta of its browser for Windows, Chrome. It is a greater threat to Microsoft’s IE than Microsoft’s search apps are to Goggle’s engine, but it isn’t a killer, yet.

The best innovation is the home page on which up to 9 frequently visited sites (individualized, naturally based on one’s recent web activity) appear in a thumbnail. Following that, one can drag tabs in and out of windows – a “why didn’t anyone do this before” sort of capability. And, if something crashes, it doesn’t take the whole browser down, just that tab because it treats every tab as a separate browser.

However, Google has created Chrome in such a way that one has to break pre-existing surfing habits. Walter Mossberg writing for the Wall Street Journal noted, “Chrome does away with most menus and toolbar icons to give maximum screen space for the Web pages themselves. Also, Google has merged the address bar, where you type in Web addresses, with the search box, where you type in search terms. This unified feature is called the Omnibox.”

Still, why bother with a new browser at all? Mr. Mossberg explained, “First, the search giant fears that because its search engine and other major products depend on the browser, Microsoft -- with its rival online products -- might be able to gain an advantage by altering the design of IE, which has roughly a 75% market share. Second, and more important, Google sees the Web as a platform for the software programs, or applications, that currently run directly on computer operating systems, notably Microsoft's Windows. It says current browsers lack the underlying architecture to enable future, more powerful Web applications that will rely more heavily on a common Web programming language called JavaScript. Chrome was designed to be the world's speediest browser at handling JavaScript.”

Or as Google puts it, “Think of Chrome as more than a simple Web browser. It’s a platform for running Web applications.” The browser is still in beta, and a lot of development will be done before the year is out. But Microsoft needs to update its IE8 that is also in beta, if it hopes to keep its share of the browser market. If not, Chrome is just different enough to be a problem.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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