Google Chrome Webkit-based browser might just be the Google OS.
The big news of the day? Google announces Google Chrome, a WebKit (yes the very same Webkit that Safari uses) based-browser.
As you can see from the example to the right, Google's browser will have tabs on the top and a speed dial front page like Opera.
On the back end, major features include:
- a new, super-fast Javascript engine called V8
- an auto-completion feature that uses Google's monster DB of the Web's information
- the browser tabs are all separate processes so if one crashes, it doesn't require a browser restart
The real question is how is Google going to use the browser? Will they optimize their sites to take advantage of Chrome (a la Microsoft). Will the planned Gears integration overshadow the support that Google gives to Firefox and recently "Geared" Safari?
Is this the Google OS? (More screenshots below)
It now works on Windows but will be released for all platforms (Mac of course) including Linux. All of those little Linux-based EEE type NetBooks will be prime targets for the browser. As the browser becomes more and more important and more applications go online, the browser will begin to be everything.
Gears is be best example of the browser going offline. At the moment you can take your Reader, Docs and Spreadsheets offline. Soon Gmail and many of Google's other applications will work offline and on.
Overall, as Google Apps/Mac users, this is great news for us. Hopefully Apple and Google can work together to make Webkit better across many platforms.
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Comments (23)
I love the concept.
After reading the explanatory comic book (google it), what Google is doing makes sense, and, I think, needed.
I won't be using it, though. It's not for Mac or Linux -- only Windows at first.
Google have a decent track record when it comes to supporting Mac. We'll have our hands on Chrome soon enough and I definitely plan to try it. The good news for me, as a web developer, is that it's based on WebKit, so I don't have to add yet another browser to my testing suite.
This sounds cool. The browser wars continue to get more and more interesting.
I want this new browser......period.
Where's the need for another browser, yet alone another built on webkit? My guess is that this will add yet another splinter into the market.
For this Safari user, fancy stuff like tabs on top of the app window, faster Javascript and a Scott McCloudesque teaser really don't matter a fraction as much as how well it surfs webpages designed by clods who never test their code outside of Windows.
Safari gets snagged on so many pages, I have to run it disguised as IE6 most of the time.
If they can better that in the Mac version, they'd have my attention.
I'm sure this will be the browser available on Android smart phones as well.
I still prefer Camino over Safari that means webkit based Chrome will not be too interesting.
Your logic is flawed!
In your poll of iPhone 2.0.2 you state option "... going stright to voicemail".
¿¿¿stright?????
I continue to use Firefox as my primary browser across platforms because of the high customization available to me through extensions. While some of it is possible in Safari/Webkit with SIMBL and some of the browser bundle extensions... there certainly aren't as many as the mozilla addon database.
This browser will not 'fit' everyone the way it comes, so I hope Google is taking steps to make users like me able to tweak it. I'll be testing it one way or the other, but unless I can add stuff like a display of the site ip, blocking scripts, overriding css, text link conversion, etc... I won't be using it for long.
This is massive news for the Mac, because Google have chosen WebKit as the rendering engine. WebKit is the standard Mac web rendering component - it's what Safari uses, as well as just about any other Mac app that has an embedded web browser (eg. NetNewsWire). It's also the rendering engine that the iPhone uses.
WebKit has support for really advanced features that are rarely utilised because of it's limited market share. The fact that Google are going to use it means that we'll get more, and better, support for WebKit based browsers, including Safari. We'll also get richer, more beautiful websites because of it.
Fantastic ! (even though I'll probably never use the Google browser !)
I think I'll stick with FireFox. I've had way too many problems with webkit, all instability issues. Plus, if you have too many tabs open, it kills performance. I'll try Chrome, but I doubt if I'll be staying with it.
seriously, read the comic book: http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/
anyway, webkit is just a part of the overall system (the rendering engine) - if it has a bit of a hiccup the rest of the browser will still function fine.
I couldn't care less about webkit-- there are more important questions here. Doesn't anybody else wonder if this thing phones home?
We saw this movie last year.
Google Android will have this new browser. Just like safari on iphone.
This is the primal target of this release.
Problem is the huge number of web sites that use MS technology (like NBC videos) that do not work with the new FF or Safari... then there's corporate websites I have to access that use some kind of MS crud that requires IE... I'm stuck with using IE when I have to and old FF or Opera to watch some online TV and videos. (the new FF stinks)
In terms of web development and support for CSS, XHTML and W3c.org recommendations, from early testing, it would seem that the Google Chrome Web Browser is not only based on Webkit and the same platform/browser engine as Safari 3.0, but has the same CSS and markup bugs and "hiccups". I already see the same issues in Chrome in web site layout interpretations as Ive been following in Safari 3.0.
This means, if your website has issues or bugs in Safari browser, and you need a simple CSS hack to fix layouts in Chrome, so your web site looks good and displays well in Google Chrome, you can use my CSS Safari/IE7 styule sheet fix. Its located here: http://www.giantisland.com/Resources/LitePacificHackforSafariAndIE7.aspx
I'm very Disappointed that Google’s Chrome browser does not support MathML (Math Markup Language). Mozilla’s Firefox does!!
The current Chrome is a very good first release browser but lags far behind Opera, Firefox, Camino and even Safari.
ALL it's functionalities are present in the leading browsers but lacks many of the functionalities in them. Has no extension or customization abilities and until it has it will NOT even be a contender let alone a leader.
Current Chrome has a few technical features that put them in the lead on some aspect.
The most significant is the javascript engine that gives Chrome a leading javascript performance but that lead will be short leaved since the next Firefox version 3.1 also has a much improved JS engine and, from the tests I have done, has great performance.
The other feature is tab's thread separation. It potentially gives stability advantages but also increases resource usage. Considering that mature browsers like Firefox and Opera are already very stable it is unclear if this feature will be an advantage or a disadvantage. Current Chrome has some stability problem but that should be solved soon.
Chrome uses WebKit as a rendering engine so that any improvements will be easily shared with Safari and QTWebKit widget. Also anything that helps to make IE6 (and even IE7) go the way of the DoDo is a very good thing.
http://www.webdesignmo.com/blog/2008/09/03/google-chrome-beta/ also have some comments on Google Chrome Beta. :)