Google unveils new web browser called Chrome

Search giant Google has aimed another shot at software giant Microsoft with the release of its very own web browser, to be called Chrome.

Search giant Google has aimed another shot at software giant Microsoft with the release of its very own web browser, to be called Chrome.

Google officially confirmed the launch of Chrome with a blog post written by vice president of product management Sundar Pichai and engineering director Linus Upson, posted at 7:10am this morning, Australian time.

The pair says Google was encouraged to build its own web browser because it felt that existing web browsers had not kept pace with the evolution of websites.

“We realised that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the 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.”

Pichai and Upson say the browser is streamlined, simple and fast and also includes improved security measures to make browsing more stable.

“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.”

Chrome has been built using components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, and Google has vowed to make all of its code open source as well.

“We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.”

Google Chrome will be released in 100 countries later today. Initially the browser will only work on computers running Microsoft Windows, although Google says it will soon release versions for Mac and Linux.

Bloggers and technology writers have gone into overdrive this morning, predicting that Chrome could spell the beginning of the end for Microsoft’s browser Internet Explorer (which has around 75% of the market) and Mozilla’s Firefox browser. Both companies released new versions of their browser in the last few months.

But blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet says Chrome won’t necessarily be an instant success and argues web users may be loathe to switch from their current browser unless Google makes it quick, easy and painless to download Chrome.

Let the browser wars begin.

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