Google, the icon of Internet companies, recently released Chrome, an open source browser set to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, as well as Firefox, for which Google is its largest customer.
The browser itself is still in beta, like GMail and every other Google service, and I expect it’ll stay that way for some time. The appearance is slick but goofy, something that Google has become increasingly good at designing for its products. Toolbars and menus are at a minimum; all screen space is efficiently compacted to provide room for more web page. Launching Chrome opens up a “Most Visited” pages dashboard.
Specific features aren’t really the story surrounding Chrome, as those, such as a noticeable absent Bookmark Manager, will be taken care of by the development community due to the free-to-download code. What’s more fascinating is this is the next move in the great Chess battle between Microsoft and Google, with Google putting the King in check.
“Think of Chrome as more than a simple Web browser,” Google declares. “It’s a platform for running Web applications.”
When Google says “platform”, they mean two things: A foundation to run their web applications and a place to display their advertisements. Microsoft’s online tools are lacking in polish and popularity compared to Google’s, which means more and more web users will be viewing Google ads. It’s no longer a matter of Microsoft being unable to crack the online advertising market; now Google is invading Microsoft’s oldest and most secure businesses. Someone in Redmond has to be worried.
Every time I open Google Chrome I might be adding money to its already bulging $12 billion pocketbook. But heck, their code sure does load Youtube videos faster than Firefox.
Tags: chrome, google, web browser
It doesn’t hurt that they have yet another route to profit off ads though. And like their statement said, it’s going to be all about the applications.
It’s FAAAAST.
I just wish the software would get upgraded fast, too. I don’t use it on a lot of sites because of lack of extensions, and I outright can’t use it for Facebook because half the buttons don’t even work. Flash-based applications (ie the Photobucket uploader) tend to get screwed up and crash when I try to use it for those right now, too.
I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, though. If we didn’t do it this way than I wouldn’t get to see Chrome at all until it got all debugged.
Yeah, the speed is impressive; it’s designed to parse video and Javascript better than other browsers. It just needs fine-tuned, and I’m not sure how strongly they’ll rely on the community to improve it.
I’m looking at the technology behind the application itself. Google will store, index and consume my Google Chrome usage as a proprietary tool to increase their advertising revenue. As Google marks their tenth birthday this month, they’ve come to a crossroads. There is much competition from Microsoft and Yahoo.
Google’s revenue has fallen and I think they are venturing out too late into new areas. They are still specialized in indexing information. I think these new areas are gimmicks. What they should really be working on is when I go to my Google page it already has the search results displayed. Google’s new obstacle is the search field itself. If Google’s so smart then why doesn’t it display the search results BEFORE I have to type them in?
I think the next logical step for Google is to continue indexing our Internet usage, add proprietary Bayesian tools on the back end and reinvent itself in a tremendously Google way. It’s either that or go into Solar power. They haven’t been buying a whole bunch of land but they have been investing in data centers.
Microsoft as whole has nothing to worry about. Microsoft’s market cap is around 220 billion dollars. Google a little more than have that with Yahoo bringing in 25 billion. Don’t forget Yahoo even turned down a bid at 45 billion and Microsoft still hasn’t pounced. They don’t really need Yahoo to compete against Google. Google’s stock is overpriced and giving much pressure on Google to return maximum profits.
I think Google has decided on a path to continue focusing in on indexing information to maximize profit while introducing back end AI and Bayesian network technology as a natural filtering for search engine results. Therefore creating additional and more virtual billboards in order to sell its advertising.
I love Chrome! Except when I’m on Facebook haha, but yeah…I definitely can’t wait til all the kinks are ironed out
Google is taking over the world!
I can’t use Google Chrome yet, because I use a Mac, so I don’t know first hand how it looks or feels. But, Logan mentions it being another tool for Google’s ad business; does it have built-in ads?
No, ads aren’t built in, but the default search engine is Google’s and it’s combined with the URL bar