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Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

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Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#71

Post by unalone »

qaexl wrote: post #66
unalone wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you underestimate Google's ability to push their goods. They've shown time and time again that they can enter a cluttered market and make a name for themselves nonetheless. You seem to assume that the average person isn't going to want this rather than Firefox. That's patently false. I dislike Gecko: in my experience WebKit works better and faster. I dislike Mozilla: they seem to me to be manned with incompet…

With the feature set of WebKit + Gears + faster Javascript, as a developer, I'm much more likely to write apps against this platform. I am thinking specifically of distributing the Chrome browser with my app: User goes to the site and already has Chrome. My site automatically detects that, and they can download my Gears app. User goes to the site and has Firefox. My site detects that and gives them an option of the "…

I think that an Office suite is almost guaranteed, since all the parts are in place. Agreed.

Pity Chrome is only Windows. I'd love to see how Google makes it look and run on Leopard.

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#73

Post by netcan »

iigs wrote: post #41

This is tremendously exciting. There are tons of comments here that are insinuating that Google is doing this to screw over Mozilla somehow. I think this is bogus: 1) I know the comic was long, but they explicitly cover their agenda -- they're taking the time and money to make some hard decisions about the browser that really need to be made (or at least investigated), like separate processes per tab / embedded-objec…

I agree that the theory is bogus. But.. 1) Explicitly covering their agenda only has value if you trust them. If Steve Ballmer was telling you about how he wants to improve the web experience for everyone, would you buy it.

2)They don't lose any impressions by replacing FF. They just stop paying for them.

3) I agree. But that just means you don't care if they kill FF. Not that they're not.

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#74

Post by fauigerzigerk »

siong1987 wrote: post #24
alaskamiller wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The browser war was based on distribution, not marketing. Now this will be a war based on money, not distribution. Will Google continue to pay and support Mozilla Foundation? Because once that's gone...

Google just signed a 3 years deal with Mozilla. So, personally, I don't think that Google Chrome would be direct competitor to Firefox. They are in fact in two different market - normal browsing VS web application. Refer: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/mozilla-extends-lucrati... http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2008/08/26/firefox-summit-ref...

So firefox (or IE or Safari or Opera) doesn't compete in the market for running web applications? That's news to me.

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#75

Post by signa11 »

krschultz wrote: post #26

I don't think this is an attack on Firefox over 50 million bucks. I think this is Google looking at the web and saying we need a faster, more stable, more rich, browser that has these 20 features to allow us to push our web apps forward. Their game is to make web apps equal to desktop apps so that they can sell advertising on them - and hammer Microsoft. This goes towards that goal. I'm looking forward to it. Firefox…

perhaps this has more to do with recognizing mobile devices as the next big thing (tm), and providing a seamless experience on both mobile and desktops ?

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#77

Post by sratner »

llimllib wrote: post #56
queensnake wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who knows but that what's next on Google's plate is a great implementation of SVG or whatever, to be a completely open alternative to AIR and Silverlight. I think we can almost expect it.

The webkit implementation of is excellent, which fills most of the need for SVG, especially with separate processes for tabs.

And with html5 video support in Webkit, another advantage of Flash evaporates. There is still the question of distribution, though.

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#78

Post by jsrn »

queensnake wrote: post #42
13ren wrote: post #34

This is a competitor in the AIR / silverlight / JavaFX space Javascript can be enormously faster: compare ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0, which are implementations of ECMAscript (which Javascript is also) in Adobe's Flash. If Google can basically get these things right - local persistence, speed and animation tools - the Web OS that Microsoft has greatly feared will be finally upon us...

Who knows but that what's next on Google's plate is a great implementation of SVG or whatever, to be a completely open alternative to AIR and Silverlight. I think we can almost expect it.

webkit already has decent SVG support: http://webkit.org/projects/svg/status.xml

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#79

Post by johnyzee »

krschultz wrote: post #26

I don't think this is an attack on Firefox over 50 million bucks. I think this is Google looking at the web and saying we need a faster, more stable, more rich, browser that has these 20 features to allow us to push our web apps forward. Their game is to make web apps equal to desktop apps so that they can sell advertising on them - and hammer Microsoft. This goes towards that goal. I'm looking forward to it. Firefox…

That seems to be what they are saying.

However, Google does not have a good track record of delivering product for non-technical end users. GMail, their one succesful homegrown, mass-market, non-search product that I can think of, is a mess (haphazard user interface, no improvement for years, still beta). For such a strategic app, that is worrying.

As for their platform vision, it also seems very scattershot. They have visionary initiatives (GWT, Gears, App Engine, now Chrome) but it seems awfully disjointed with hardly any synergy between these projects.

I think it has yet to be proven that these projects can be integrated into something larger than the sum of its parts. For my money, if they can't do it with Chrome I have no confidence they can do it at all.

Re: Google Chrome, Google's Browser Project

#80

Post by nailer »

william42 wrote: post #59
krschultz wrote: post #26

I don't think this is an attack on Firefox over 50 million bucks. I think this is Google looking at the web and saying we need a faster, more stable, more rich, browser that has these 20 features to allow us to push our web apps forward. Their game is to make web apps equal to desktop apps so that they can sell advertising on them - and hammer Microsoft. This goes towards that goal. I'm looking forward to it. Firefox…

Agreed. I wouldn't be surprised if this derived from some pissed-off (at the general state of web browsers esp. wrt slowness) Google engineer.

I wonder if Google's own Firefox devs are working on this.

I also wonder why the term Chrome was used - for devs (which are a tiny bunch of people), that term refers to the UI of Mozilla based products.

Edit: answering my second question, the term chrome is a general UI term, from before Mozilla. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/C/chrome.html

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