Google to launch browser called Chrome to battle IE; Is Firefox a target or tag-team partner?

Google will launch a Web browser called Chrome that will take on Microsoft's Internet Explorer and apparently Mozilla's Firefox, which the search giant essentially funds.

* Google's browser will be open source;
* Chrome will include a JavaScript Virtual Machine built from scratch;
* Tabs will be moved around;
* The browser has an address bar with auto-completion.
* There's a privacy feature like IE has;
* And Google aims to be proactive about fighting phishing and malware attacks.

Update: Google confirmed that Chrome will launch on Tuesday in a beta that will cover 100 countries.

[NO_PUDding]

Will use.

I still use IE... Don't see the problem, but this will convince me. Google is my Homepage on everything, it's the centre of the internet to me.

[lsujester]

Chrome will make you switch from IE? WTF?

Why would a new untested browser, Google or not, make you switch when there is Firefox 3... the best browser around.

[verb3k]

I agree with lsujester, Firefox FTW!

[plain rice]

Hell yeah with Google as the homepage. It's my homepage for every device that is capable of viewing websites. PS3, iPhone, Blackberry, etc...

[Statix]

I'm sticking with Firefox.

Call me crazy for betting against Google, but I predict this to be a failed venture on their part on this one.

[uie4rhig]

which i highly doubt, then firefox will be history, and chrome will take a BIG chunk of IE's user base.. im gonna try chrome, if its gonna be any good, then i'll probably switch from firefox when its out of beta.. but thats quite far thought :P

[PopEmUp]

IE FTL, Firefox FTW, safari FTW, and Finally CHROME FTW but in progress

[texz]

So I don't se why I should use something different than realy improved from other versions IE number 7 dot oh.

[shelbygt33]

The only reason some sites only work in IE is because of the way the IE browser acts, it's failure to comply to all the "standards" that exist, and developers/companies not willing to spend the time to make sure their site/app works on all browsers and therefore just make sure it looks nice in the one with the biggest market share.

So, if FF, Safari, Opera and Chrome can widdle away IE's market share, and ensure that all browsers are standards compliant, then theoretically if you make a site correctly, it will work the same way in each browser. Thus, eliminating the "you must have IE installed" message from our vocabulary. (Given, that's a utopian viewpoint, but it's what we're striving for.)

[robbo918]

Not sure what sites you visit but Firefox has zero problems and I have used it since it started. There were a few compatibility problems in the past but nothing with the new release, so no IE isn't the only browser that has few to no issues with websites.

[meepmoopmeep]

i'm going to install windows on my mac to beta test Chrome until the Mac version is released.
Go Google!!!

[SeNiLe911]

http://www.google.com/chrom...

[killax3563]

I just downloaded it. Its hot.

So far, I like it a lot. But there is a little bit of a learning curve (it took me a few seconds to figure out how to get to my favorites).

I'm think Google Chrome will be my main browser and Firefox will be backup (or in case I need to highlight anything; i love that FF plugin).

[killax3563]

i just read about the "Omnibox" on yahoo.com.

"The second big principle behind Chrome is that a user can type anything he or she wishes into a single place, the Omnibox, and instantly receive suggestions on where to go, gleaned from the user’s own browsing history and Google’s rankings of popular sites. Whether you type in a Web address or a search term, the Omnibox is very smart. In some cases, in my tests, it came up with the right destination after I had typed only one or two letters of the name of a site I frequently visited."

The Omnibox can be used either as an address bar (for URL's) or as a space to start a google search (kind of like the search box in Firefox and IE).

Like I said. Google Chrome is looking Hawt.

[aaquib5]

Safari rocks! It's so simple and elegant, I love it. It doesn't have the customization as Firefox does, but it R4PES IE any day.

[sumfood4u]

Go Ash!

[rCrysis]

I'd test it out...just to see how much RAM it would take up...because I'm only running on 512mb...>.<

[Danielson]

ram wise chrome is ridiculous 27-60 mb. craziness, i am very impressed with chrome so far!

[ice_prophecy]

Its damn fast.

[Mikey Mike]

that as of right now it is vapor ware.

[xionpunk]

Chrome seems to actually be running faster than firefox for me. very impressed. Also I like the way it looks, nice and simple.

[vdesai]

Runs faster because it uses the Webkit rendering engine (the one thats in safari).

[ice_prophecy]

Actually it exists. Google does a lot of R&D and software development.

[Bladestar]

ohh great... as if we don't have enough browser lovers already... damn it! as a programmer all I have to say, that freaking sucks! do you know how much time we have to spend trying to make website compatible with most browsers? ohh and this is not only about Microsoft being incompatible with W3C which they have finally start doing... all browsers move away from standards one way or another... some of them support some features.. others don't... the no long release Safari for windows is being a b!tch... opera.. you do not want to know... and now even google is making a browser!? sucks! web developers life is about to become more miserable...

why didn't they just join forces with firefox... it's a very matured and great browser!?

anyways... I just hope is not too plain... too simple... I know the great thing about google is simplicity... but I was not too happy with GoogleTalk... it lacks too many features that one can find in MS Live, Yahoo and other Messenger..

[ice_prophecy]

Firefox can be faster. But unfortunately politics has made it not possible.

Google's mission has always been giving consumers choice. By doing this, they do R&D in many areas to create their take on a product. By no means do they force you to switch over. If their product happens to be better than the competition, people will have that choice to change. If not, google abandons the project or improves it.

If chrome becomes the next big thing then why not?

[kevin1112]

why dont you quit complaining and do your job, you dont like it do another.

[shelbygt33]

Typically we only QA for:
IE (windows), v6 and 7
FF for windows and mac, latest build
Safari for Mac (latest build)

Don't know why you would even bother testing Safari for Windows.

[Bladestar]

my company develops APIs and web components to license to developers. we practically have to support as many browsers as possible... hell we even try to support Mozilla 1.7 to a point... I understand if you are developing 1 app you can get away with ignoring many browsers.. but when your target audience is lots of developers each one of them with their own requirements... yeah... each single browser matters...

[Kholinar]

Better get used to supporting webkit. It's going to be everywhere in many forms, and, even if Safari for Windows is buggy, Webkit and its browsers are, by far, the most standards compliant.

I agree, it's a minefield, but the web would have died if we didn't have the competition that started when FF came on the scene. Even FF has greatly benefited from this war. They certainly wouldn't have jumped on a new javascript engine if Webkit hadn't been there tripling performance.

It's also much less of a minefield than it was when we just had IE6, FF and Opera on the Windows side. Browsers generally behave a lot more predictably.

[vdesai]

All you guys really have to worry about is IE then one of the other browsers because all of the other browsers strive to meet web standards.

[shelbygt33]

Well if your goal is to support all the browsers, ok. But for my company (websites for corporations) - as long as we get 95+% of the users, we're good. I've never once seen it a mandatory to QA for Opera compliance, btw. But I understand each and every situation is unique.

[Sanhlami]

hope its as fast as opera but as compatible as firefox.

[Bolts]

IE isn't going anywhere, even if Chrome is a huge hit IE will at least command %60 of browser landscape. This is bad news for Firefox though, as good as it is, Firefox is still a fringe browser know mostly to the tech savvy types and power users.

[wAtdaFck]

Its a shame IE is still widely used.

[deeznuts]

I wonder what you used to download firefox .... ;)

I have firefox installed. I just still use IE. not enough difference for me to like one or another.

[ice_prophecy]

With Android's release imminent, I hope google gets chrome done well.

[TheColbertinator]

Chrome FTW

[Fowack]

No joke

[Blackmoon]

I'd install it simply because I'm a web developer and like to have every browser I can possibly get my hands on installed for testing purposes.

Though generally when it comes to cross-browser compatibility ignorance is bliss.

[SlippyMadFrog]

I love Google as a company, I realy hope they succeed with this browser. Isn't their motto "Don't be evil"? I'm sold :)

[ice_prophecy]

"You can make money without doing evil."

[SlippyMadFrog]

Thanks for that

[Jdoki]

But being evil is so much more fun. Mwahahahahaaaaaaa.

(Been playing too much Disgaea)

:)

[J@D]

IMAO Disgaea 3 is he best and Mao is a maniac psycho but he's pretty cool.

[LossTheEarthbreaker]

Anyone know?

[Jdoki]

Yes, and Linux too. But probably not in Tuesday Beta release.

[Jdoki]

This is an interesting development. I thought Google was well in bed with Mozilla. Perhaps we'll see Firefox make way for Chrome.

I'll be giving Chrome a try, but unless it is compatible with all the fantastic add-ons I use with FF3 it'll be tough to convince me to switch.

Everything seems to be hinting at some sort of OS launch by Google. Android. Employment of ex-Windows developers. Good relationships with OpenSource community. Google Gears and Docs. I don't think we're more than a couple of years away from an announcement of a Google branded version of Linux, or possibly something new.

[Kholinar]

"I thought Google was well in bed with Mozilla."

Not exactly. Mozilla makes a lot of money from ads via google, but there's not a lot of direct benefit on the Google side, or, I should say, not as much.

Google's identifying some bottlenecks in the way browsers are traditionally designed, changing them and open-sourcing the work so firefox or whoever can benefit.

If this is competition, then it's the best type, and Mozilla should only lose if they're stubborn or lazy... but for consumers/surfers it's a definite win.

[verb3k]

Yes, and because it's open source, Mozilla can use Chrome's code and vice versa. It will be good for collaboration. It will be good for the users :)

[kesvalk]

ahh if only game devlopment was like that, there would not be a lot of games with the same bugs that annoy us for ever...

[jay2]

Guys, stop whining untill you try it out.

[Percy]

I'm still waiting for my google 64bit sidebar :(

[user9422077]

Firefox > InternetExplorer

[Kholinar]

It's all Open Source, so firefox can share the code as well.

There's a comic over at Google that explains all the aspects of Chrome that are different from other browsers. It's very impressive (and yes, it'll support plug-ins... but will also make it much easier to identify buggy or memory hogging ones) and looks to make the browser multi-threaded in the way it handles pages. It also uses webkit, which is unbelievably fast at the mo.

I wasn't interested, but, after reading the comic, I'll definitely be using this at least on a part time basis.

For those complaining about too many browsers, you're biting off your own foot. Things like firefox are great because there are so many competitors. Safari, Opera, Omniweb, even IE8 and now Chrome, keep everyone moving toward more powerful browsers, and most of them also help web standards get fully implemented. (Which is why someone complaining about testing for web development is short-sighted). It's a lot better now than it's ever been, but Chrome looks to take everything up another notch.

I'm thrilled.

[y0haN]

WTF@Logo.

Gotta browse 'em all!!

[sfinXters]

But just out of curiosity - i've been using Opera for some 7 or 8 years now; none of the other browsers come even close to it..

[jumboplay]

The last thing the world needs is another Google product. Do they need to be *everywhere*?

[verb3k]

They are already everywhere.

[iPhoneGeek]

Maybe now IE will finally be pushed to the back burner. IE has so many bugs that it makes designing sites for cross-browser compatibility a pain. IE does everything backwards. With FireFox already out and Chrome coming out, hopefully IE will not be used by our PC brothers and sisters.

[Lets-Game]

been using firfox forever and it beats IE any day but latest ff kinda started anoying me different problems. its still the best thought.
Im not gonna be ignorant and gonna try what google has to offer.
Im using google like forever and its awesome so if chrome is as good im all in.

[DJ]

I'm a Firefox user, but it's always cool to test out new products.

[kesvalk]

gonna try it, although i am in love with firefox and it's fastdial addon XD

[Jadedz]

Wow! really?

http://www.squidoo.com/doug...

[verb3k]

A browser with no "AdBlock Plus" is worth nothing, that's why I use Firefox.

[Wii60Fan]

Anyone know when they are releasing it? All
i get is a page not found error

[Bonsai1214]

any acid test scores yet?

[vdesai]

Its gonna get 100/100 its most likely based on the latest trunk of webkit not the stable one that safari runs.

[zonetrooper5]

Seen the pictures of Chrome and so far it just looks plain ugly, second I'm still going to be using just IE7/8 and FF3.

[jack who]

ill pass..they already know more about me then i know bout him self now they wanna be my web browser? i think not!!

[pshizle]

pass

[Droid]

who cares. Firefox is #1

[LightofDarkness]

Using it now. It's really quite good. Definitely replaces IE and Firefox for me. Well done Google, I can see this catching on FAST.

[-SIXAXIS-]

I just downloaded Google Chrome and it is very nice. Fast, secure, everything. The only problem is that FTP files don't work right. You get a "File not found" message with Chrome whereas Firefox can download the file. It's still in beta so no biggie.

[CAPT IRISH]

ill stick with firefox

[Cynjo]

I will use it as a alt browser but I'm hoping it will bring something else to the table that others before it either failed to or didn't try to implement. open source FTW!!!

[theKiller]

it always freezes and somtimes doesnt work well with some media players!

EDIT

google is just few steps away from making their own operating system!! that day will be a happy day for me, and if its working fine then i will not install windows ever in my PC!!!

@zo6_lover27
yes i also have problems with firefox plug-ins and strangely i am the opposite of u, when i have problems with firefox i go to IE!! how is safari by the way?? is it worth to use it? what about opera?

[zo6_lover27]

Those are the problems I had with IE. Its why I switched.

Firefox is near perfect, but sometimes the plugins will mysteriously stop working and I can watch videos, that's when I use Safari.

Definitely checking this out though.

[zo6_lover27]

Safari is better than IE definitely, not to sure it its better than IE 8 though, I haven't had any problems of any kind with it.

I was going to download Opera but I was so satisfied with Firefox that I decided not to.

[Wii60Fan]

A bit slow when connecting to websites..... Hmmm I'll reserve judgement for now, but Im still going to be using Firefox 3 for my daily websurfing needs.

[PS360WII]

Who says it's slow?! This guys fast and a pretty neat browser... only messed with it for a little while now but promising.

[BigKev45]

Firefox FTW!

[Killjoy3000]

I just downloaded the beta, and let me say, what an excellent browser. I love it.

[verb3k]

It's well done, but no add-ons = sucks.

[Ray J]

it's so intuitive + super fast, and multitab surfing works like charm!

I Love It!
peace Ray :-D

[foozen]

only scrolls down and not up on this 'chrome'

[Dissidia]

I'm using it right now too, i'm pretty impressed

[Freakwave003]

My Mozilla Firefox has been a little screwy since yesterday (some pages won't load correctly, bold letters, unable to enter N4G, etc.), but ever since I starting using Google Chrome, all of those things have not happened, plus loads a bit faster.

Very nice Google. (Especially because it's still beta)

[CrippleH]

It's faster I can notice how faster it is from the competition.

Just need more options like no caching and etc.

And add in Add ons.

BTW I'm already sold. Google you can have my $0.00, you earned it.

[TrevorPhillips]

its actually not that bad it looks great :)

[sleepbox]

Not impressed. So unimpressed, I think I am no longer considering an Android phone.

[Guitarded]

Why is this here?

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

I can't click in the wheel to scroll down the page on any websites with this freakin' browser!

Back to Firefox!

I'm kidding...

I know it's still in the beta form and can't have EVERYTHING worked out yet. I do love the moving around tabs thing. That's nice. APPS are a MUST though!

I think I might start using this thing...