Google Chrome – A new Internet web browser

Posted on September 2, 2008 at 3:18 am

If you haven’t already heard, Google is releasing their new open-source web browser, called Chrome, in beta today! Apparently, they wanted to keep it under the radar, but several Google developers released a “comic book” introducing all of the new features of Google Chrome a little early. You can view the comic book yourself to read all of the details.

This is great news for us, but bad news for competitors like Microsoft and Mozilla. The browser war has been heating up lately with the release of Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 8, and now Google Chrome. So will Chrome steal any market share or will it be another Cuil?

Well judging by how well other Google products have done in the past, Chrome could be a strong competitor. So what is supposed to make Chrome special? Here’s a list of features as written in the comic book, basically broken down into 5 main topics: stability; speed; search and the user experience, security, and standards.

Before we delve into any details, here is a screenshot of what the new browser is supposed to look like:

Source: CNET

One of the new features is that each tab will run in a separate process, which will be completely independent of each other and will be visible in the Process list from Task Manager. In this way, if one tab crashes, then you can kill just that one tab and not lose all of your other open tabs.

The browser is also written with Webkit, which is what runs Apple’s Safari and Google’s Android software. This means the browser should be very fast and yield better performance. Included with the browser will be a new version of JavaScript engine, specifically version 8, which will allow Chrome to support the next generation of web apps being built.

Another major aspect to Chrome is that each tab will have it’s own window controls and it’s own URL box. Developers will be able to control which window controls appear in a particular tab, therefore having the ability to create web apps that in the browser that resemble desktops apps. The URL box will be more like Firefox and give you suggestions based on your browsing history and search results.

And like IE 8 and Apple’s Safari, there will also be a private browsing mode. In terms of security, Chrome will come with a database of phishing and scam sites to prevent browse exploits. It will also come with an API to constantly update the database on more evil sites.

Google Chrome will also include it’s own “task manager” where you can see what sites are using the most memory, downloading the most data and using up the most CPU. Then you can kill the process for just that one tab if you like.

According to Google, “This is just the beginning — Google Chrome is far from done.”

So make sure to download the new Google Chrome browser today and test it out for yourself! I will write up another post soon on my experiences with the new browser! Enjoy!

» Filed Under Google Software/Tips

Comments

6 Responses to “Google Chrome – A new Internet web browser”

EM said on : September 2nd, 2008 at 4:53 pm

This looks good! I might just wait for them to release the full (non-beta) version so I can get the most out of it.

Jason said on : September 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm

“Well judging by how well other Google products have done in the past it will be a strong competitor”

Umm… besides search, what products and how well have they done? Can you please give market penetration numbers for Google docs? How about this one – how much money do they lose each year operating youtube?

Google has no idea what to do with themselves. Hence “hey, lets make another browser…”

It does appear that they built a decent one but dont fool yourself – they will not take marketshare from IE or Firefox anytime soon. Think about how long it took Firefox to get where it is.

Eliram said on : September 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 am

The previous comment about google docs made me realize that only with a browser like Chrome it will be possible to use google docs as an actual web-based application without an adderss bar and buttons.

Smart guys, those google people are.

George Toms said on : September 4th, 2008 at 6:33 pm

Google Chrome is really fast!
Now I can sort 200,000 records inside of Browser (Chrome) just in 1 sec. (Faster than Microsoft Excel):
http://www.ardentedge.com/ex_if.htm

El Hombre said on : September 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

In response to Jason, they already took 7% market share from IE.
http://www.infoworld.com/artic....._IE_1.html

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