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Google needs community to make Chrome a Windows killer

Google has a new browser, called Chrome. That's now old news. The Wall Street Journal suggests that it's all about taking on Microsoft, and it's probably right. Glyn Moody cogently argues that this is not about browsers at all, but rather about shifting the ground under everyone's feet to the "Google operating system." He's probably right, too.

Chrome, however, lacks the very same thing that Android and every other Google product lacks, with the exception of its Search/Page Rank technology:

Community.

Mozilla Firefox has community in spades. Mozilla isn't the one developing killer extensions to Firefox like Adblock Plus, Forecastfox, etc. The community does.

Even Microsoft has community in spades, though on the operating system side of its business, not its browser. Look at the ecosystem around Windows and Office: pretty impressive.

Google, however, seems to want to go it alone, whatever the collateral damage. It is telling that Chrome was a secret leaked and then announced to the world, rather than a transparent, community effort. Google did the same thing with Android, creating a closed-door community that left would-be Android developers riled.

Does it matter? Or is Google powerful enough to take on Microsoft by itself, community or no community?… Read more

Google Chrome: Browser competition back in high gear

Google Chrome is a warning shot over the bows of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

The open-source software project, to be detailed later Tuesday at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., should dispel any lingering thoughts that the browser wars are over. To be sure, it's less cutthroat now than in the 1990s, but one of technology's most powerful companies is now on the battlefield.

So how does Chrome change the competitive landscape?

Initially at least, it's not likely to change the market share rankings. According to Net Applications' browser market share statistics for August, … Read more

Google steps on Firefox with its new Zune...err, Chrome browser

Despite Google's recent extension of its partnership with Mozilla, it was just a matter of time before Google got too big for anyone else's browser and decided to write its own. Or, rather, it was just a matter of time before Google decided to borrow the best of others' open-source projects and extend them, as this is what Google generally does.

And so Google has done with its newly announced open-source Chrome browser:

What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.

So writes Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google, and so plans Google. The difference this time is that Google will actually have to contribute code back, making its Chrome browser an experiment in community building, rather than merely community borrowing. It's also an experiment in distributing software, not merely services, an area in which Google has not made much of a dent to date.

Ars technica thinks Chrome sounds really innovative, what with its ability to segment the processes running in different browser tabs, among other things. Mozilla's John Lilly welcomes the competition and continued partnership with Google, but can't help but strike an ominous chord:

...[T]he parts where [Google and Mozilla are] different, with different missions, will continue to be separate. Mozilla's mission is to keep the Web open and participatory....

Lilly doesn't say it, but presumably he could have finished the sentence this way: "...And Google's mission is to drive as much traffic and advertisements through its sites and services." This is where I believe Chrome could both thrive and stagnate.… Read more

Mozilla CEO: Chrome was inevitable

Mozilla CEO John Lilly on Tuesday waxed philosophical about the release of Google's new Web browser, Chrome, despite it signaling an attempt by the search giant--and Mozilla's major financier--to become its biggest competitor.

Chrome, Lilly says, was inevitable.

"It should come as no real surprise that Google has done something here: their business is the Web, and they've got clear opinions on how things should be," Lilly wrote in his blog Tuesday. "Chrome will be a browser optimized for the things that they see as important."

The beta version of Chrome, to be … Read more

Google Chrome update: First screenshot, and live-blog alert

The Web site for Google's new open-source Chrome browser is slowly waking up. As I first began writing this post, there was a logo, a single screenshot (below), a link to a broken video, and a non-functioning download link. The page now redirects to Google.com, though.

The company is hosting a press conference at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters Tuesday at 11 a.m. PDT. I will be there and will live blog. Sign up for a reminder in the box at right, or just show up on Webware.com.

Previous coverage: The Chrome is out of the bag: Google's browser arrives Tuesday. … Read more

The Chrome is out of the bag: Google's browser arrives Tuesday

This post has been updated.

We believe Kara Swisher of the All Things Digital blog was first to pick up on Google's official announcement: Chrome is real. Earlier today Swisher also had the first confirmation from sources that the launch of the browser was imminent. It's not an elaborate hoax. It's a bona fide product and it will be available for download Tuesday. We'll have a hands-on review as soon as we get some time to explore the product.

So why the mystery? Human error, it appears. According to the official Google blog, "At Google, we have a saying: 'launch early and iterate.' While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit 'send' a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open-source browser..."

Our previous coverage: Google 'starting from scratch' with own browser, Chrome.

Here's the full announcement, from the Google blog:

… Read more

iPhone doubles Web browser share

The rollout of the iPhone 3G has seen a large increase in the iPhone's global Web share, according to figures released Monday.

The figures, collected by Web analytics company Net Applications, show that in June 2008, before the launch of the iPhone 3G, the iPhone had 0.16 percent share of the operating system market, as measured by OS detection during Web browsing; and in July, it had 0.19 percent.

However, as of September 1, the iPhone had 0.3 percent of global market share, an increase of 58 percent in one month. According to Net Applications, this was due to the July launch of the iPhone 3G.

"The release of the iPhone 3G has brought large gains in Web-browsing share," said a Net Applications report. "Prior to the launch, iPhone usage share had leveled off, but has since resumed its upward trend."

In the operating system market, Microsoft Windows has had dominance for many years. However, a Net Applications report showed that dominance steadily, if slowly, decreasing. Whereas in October 2007 Microsoft Windows had 92.49 percent of the operating system market, in August 2008 that figure had dropped to 90.66 percent. … Read more

Google 'starting from scratch' with own browser, Chrome

Update at 2:36 p.m. PDT: It's official: Google Chrome will be available Tuesday.

Word surfaced Monday of a Web "comic book" introducing Google Chrome, the search giant's long-rumored open-source browser project. While the illustrations, created by cartoonist Scott McCloud, were not announced by Google, they do contain the quotes and likenesses of 19 Google developers.

The detailed, 38-page comic appeared on Google Blogoscoped, an unofficial Google blog. Update: The comic is now available on Google Book Search. The book is broken down into five main sections covering stability; speed; search and the user experience, … Read more

Google considered a move to OpenSolaris? All that glitters is not Chrome

CORRECTION at 6:30 a.m. PDT September 2: This blog inadvertently had linked to old information about Google's work with OpenSolaris. However, having discovered the mistake, the author realizes how salient the content is to Google's announcement Monday of its new browser.

Two years ago, Computerworld reported that Google was actively testing Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris Unix distribution as a possible adjunct operating system to be used internally with its existing modified Linux distribution. While I'm sure there continues to be active experimentation at Google around OpenSolaris, I suspect any move away from Linux remains highly unlikely, … Read more