Google launches Google Chrome 3 September, 2008 By Vanessa Ho

Available now for beta testing in over 40 languages such as English, French and Chinese, Google has said that Google Chrome was built for today's web and for the applications of tomorrow.

"We think of the browser as the window to the web -- it's a tool for users to interact with the web sites and applications they care about, and it's important that we don't get in the way of that experience," stated Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management with Google.

Google Chrome was designed to make it easy for users to search and navigate the web for the content they're looking for via a combined search and address bar that quickly takes users where they want to go, often in just a few keystrokes.

When a user enters an address in the address bar, Google Chrome automatically fills the field with either the most popular site associated with the keyword or keywords that user may have already typed in.

As well, when users open a new tab in Google Chrome, they'll see a page that includes snapshots of their most-visited sites, recent searches and bookmarks.

Each browser tab operates as a separate process; by isolating tabs, should one tab crash or misbehave, others remain stable and responsive, and users can continue working without having to restart Google Chrome.

Google also built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which not only speeds up today's web applications, but enables a whole new class of web applications that couldn't exist on today's browsers. According to Google, it claims that Chrome is faster than Internet Explorer.

To further advance the openness of the web, Google Chrome is being released as an open source project under the name Chromium. The intent is that Google will help make future browsers better by contributing the underlying technology in Google Chrome to the market, while continuing to develop additional features.

"While we see this as a fundamental shift in the way people think about browsers, we realize that we couldn't have created Google Chrome on our own, said Linus Upson, director of engineering with Google, in a statement. "Google Chrome was built upon other open source projects that are making significant contributions to browser technology and have helped to spur competition and innovation."

Michelle Warren, president of MW Research and Consulting, said she is torn about whether the world needs another web browser even though competition is good for the overall market.

"Google has Microsoft in its sights and this is a direct attack (if successful, of course) on Microsoft," Warren said.

In addition, she believes that Chrome will be much more of a long-term competitive threat to Microsoft Office and Windows than it is to Internet Explorer.

"Google is counting on people shifting towards using online applications more so that using software on the PC," added Warren. "If more and more users embrace SaaS and online apps then Google goes hand in hand with that trend, and so they could see strong uptake. If Microsoft addresses it too then we will have a heck of a browser battle!"

Warren does expect a lot of people to initially download Chrome out of curiosity, but thinks that users will continue to use Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.

"I don't anticipate large numbers will shift away from their preferred browsers," she added,

The challenge for Google to get people to use Chrome, said Warren, is all about the user experience because the market is saturated and everyone has a preference in terms of which browser they like to use.

As well, Warren wasn't all that impressed with some features of Google Chrome. When users type in a web address it starts to fill in possibilities not from user history (as Firefox does) but from all of the options out there. "So, while that is helpful, it is also quite distracting, Users can end up on interesting websites - but not the ones they started off looking for."

Also, Warren didn't find the speed of Google Chrome to be very good at all and thought Firefox was faster.

However, Warren did like how Chrome showed snapshots of previously visited websites on the home page and added that it can be handy for users, at the cost of a "busy" look to the page

For now, Google Chrome is more for consumers than corporate users, said Warren.

"They will attempt to build up a corporate presence through consumer uptake," she added. "I'm not sure that corporate use will be widespread. It is Google, and there are security concerns around Google that corporations must address or investigate."