Google was quick to get rid of some high profile security issues in the Chrome browser. If you go to the “About” page for Chrome, you’ll see at the bottom of the page that there’s an update available. After the update process is complete, the version number should be 0.2.149.29. If you haven’t downloaded Chrome yet, grab it from here.
I’m downloading it right now and I’ll let you know what I find.
I’m now into my second day with Chrome and I’ve started to come across some things that this browser does that I dislike:
Does anyone else have anything else to add?
With the release of Google’s Chrome web browser, there’s bound to be people who will benefit from this and those who won’t. So let us look at who are the winners and losers.
Winner: Google
This is an easy pick. Google grabbed all sorts of positive ink and mindshare from the release of Chrome. Companies pay big bucks for the sort of media attention that Google received today. They should enjoy this while it lasts.
Loser: Microsoft
Given that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hates Google with a passion, it would not surprise me if he threw a few chairs at the news of this browser. After all, this is just one more reason for people not to run Microsoft software. Plus it’s also is one more reason not to use Microsoft’s on-line services once people get a taste of Chrome.
Loser: Mozilla
Mozilla CEO John Lily put a brave face on today. But let us face facts. Google has a winner here. While it isn’t perfect, Chrome even in beta form does a bunch of things much better than Firefox. Sanboxing, isolated tabs, speed are all things that this browser excels at. Plus even in beta form, Chrome is (so far) more stable than Firefox with a much better user interface. Firefox likely won’t go away, but it has quite frankly received a kick in the groin.
Loser: Apple
Chrome uses Webkit as the rendering engine, and if you compare Chrome to Safari which also uses the Webkit engine, Safari loses. Largely for the reasons that I cited for Firefox being in trouble. Once Google gets rid of what bugs exist for this browser, you won’t have a reason to run Safari.
Winner: Apple
How can Apple be a loser and a winner at the same time? Simple. This expands the influence of Webkit engine. If Google sponsors aggressive Webkit development and doesn’t end up fighting Apple for control over the project, they both will win.
Loser: Opera
Opera has a tiny share of the browser market, which will be less now that there’s more competition. But they have been resilient seeing how long they’ve been around. So they may hang around a while, but be less relevant.
Winner: Internet Users Everywhere
Strong competition encourages innovaton. And Innovation is good for everyone. Watch how fast new enhancements appear now that Google has entered the browser market. That’s a good thing. Internet users should rejoice.
You can get it for Windows from here. Mac and Linux versions are on the way. Here are the key highlights:
Give it a try and leave a comment telling us what you think of it.
UPDATE: I just installed it. It’s freaking fast! Plus it imported all my Firefox stuff with ease. Now if I can figure out how to get my client side certificates working, I’ll start using it as my default browser to see how it really performs.
UPDATE #2: Be sure you read the fine print before you install Chrome.
UPDATE #3: Some other things I’ve noted:
Mozilla CEO John Lily cannot be a happy camper, but he tried his best to put a positive spin on Google’s announcement of their Chrome web browser via his blog today:
“Competition often results in innovation of one sort or another — in the browser you can see that this is true in spades this year, with huge Javascript performance increases, security process advances, and user interface breakthroughs. I’d expect that to continue now that Google has thrown their hat in the ring.”
That’s a good point. Competition is good for innovation. Perhaps someone should point that out to Microsoft. But I digress. He goes on to say:
“Mozilla and Google have always been different organizations, with different missions, reasons for existing, and ways of doing things. I think both organizations have done much over the last few years to improve and open the Web, and we’ve had very good collaborations that include the technical, product, and financial. On the technical side of things, we’ve collaborated most recently on Breakpad, the system we use for crash reports — stuff like that will continue. On the product front, we’ve worked with them to implement best-in-class anti-phishing and anti-malware that we’ve built into Firefox, and looks like they’re building into Chrome. On the financial front, as has been reported lately, we’ve just renewed our economic arrangement with them through November 2011, which means a lot for our ability to continue to invest in Firefox and in new things like mobile and services.”
That means the gravy train financial support for the Mozilla project will continue for some time to come. Google is the default search engine on the Mozilla Firefox browser. That nets Mozilla significant amounts of cash. For example, Google revenues were $56 million of the $66 million that Mozilla Corp. made in 2006. Not exactly chump change.
I suppose at the end of the day he has no choice but to spin the positive and hope that a competitive landscape helps Firefox survive at the end of the day. I’m not saying that Firefox is doomed or anything, but Chrome is a 700 pound gorilla that’s going to be tough to ignore.
It was only a matter of time before Google who relies on the web to make money came up with its own web browser. Dubbed “Chrome,” Google claims that this browser will be a platform for web pages and applications:
“On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic 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, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.”
Assuming that this browser delivers everything it promises, it will be competition that Microsoft (with Internet Explorer) and Mozilla (with Firefox) will find hard to beat. Even if it isn’t, one can assume that Google will gain marketshare by simply having a browser with their name on it.
The browser will be available “sometime today” in beta form. It may be worth a download to see if it lives up to the hype.
Google Chrome 2.0 Hits The Streets… But Something Is Missing….
Posted in Commentary with tags Chrome, Google on May 21, 2009 by itnerdSo if you’re a fan of the Google Chrome browser, Google has released version 2.o for you browsing pleasure. It features more speed improvements thanks to a newer version of V8 JavaScript engine and WebKit. JavaScript-heavy web pages will now run about 30% faster says Google. There are a bunch of other new features, so I’d say you should read the posting in the Official Google Blog for all the details and a video too. If you’re already using Google Chrome, you’ll be automatically updated with these new features soon. If you haven’t downloaded Google Chrome, you can get the latest version here.
But as I type this, I feel that they missed something…What could it be?
Oh yes, a Mac and LINUX version. That’s what they’re missing!
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