Google’s New Open Source Web Browser- Chrome

The buzz in the online community is about the new browser Google has come up with called Chrome, it will compete with Explorer and Firefox. Although the site is not live, word on the street is that the beta version will go live tonight. This is all well and good, but some may wonder what exactly does open source mean? “It is a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge” (Calgary, 2008).   

Google’s Chrome boasts of:

·     a browser that “will include a JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8

·     will use special tabs

·     an address bar with auto-completion features

·     as a default homepage Chrome presents you with a kind of “speed dial” feature, similar to the one of Opera

·     privacy mode; Google says you can create an “incognito” window “and nothing that occurs in that window is ever logged on your computer

·     Web apps can be launched in their own browser window without address bar and toolbar

·     To fight malware and phishing attempts, Chrome is constantly downloading lists of harmful sites” (Lenssen, 2008)

While the beta version will be using Windows in as many as 100 countries, it will eventually be available for Mac and Linux (BBC, 2008).

What do you think? Are more choices better? Does Google now have control over too much? Why or why not?  I look forward to seeing your responses.

This will be the site address, although as of right now it is not up.

  

http://www.google.com/chrome

 

(2008), from Calgary Commerce Services Web site: http://www.calgary-ecommerce-services.com/glossary.html

(2008). Google launches internet browser . Retrieved September 2, 2008, from BBC News Web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7593106.stm

Lenssen, Philipp (2008). Google Blogscoped. Retrieved September 2, 2008, Web site: http://blogoscoped.com/google-blog.html

Swisher, K (2008). The Entire Google Chrome Browser Blog AnnouncementPosted at 2:15 PM PT on September 1, 2008 . Retrieved September 2, 2008, from Boomtown Web site: http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080901/the-entire-google-chrome-blog-announcement/