Google launches beta of Google Chrome open-source Web browser. Image: Google.
If you’re a fan of variety and versatility when it comes to the joys of Internet surfing, then chances are you have more than one Web browser shortcut presently nestled on your computer’s desktop.
And, with the likes of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s open-source Firefox and Apple’s Safari browsers to choose from, effective and enjoyable Net-based perusing is all-but guaranteed.
But, hey, you can never have too much of a good thing, and so the creative boffins at Google would duly like to tickle your Net-surfing glands through this week’s beta arrival of Google Chrome, a brand new open-source browser available later today in more than 100 countries.
“So why are we launching Google Chrome?” asks Google in its Chrome blurb. “Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.”
Claiming Chrome to be the culmination of a “start from scratch” ethos that builds on the “best elements” that are already available via online browsing, Google’s open-source solution is described as a complete “rethink” that is built specifically to host rich, interactive applications rather than just Web pages.
“All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser,” outlines Google.
“Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there.”
While offered up as an aesthetically “streamlined and simple” browsing alternative, Google is keen to point out that Chrome has been designed to handle the Web’s gamut of pages, sites and applications with that same “clean and fast” efficiency first experienced by users through the Google search homepage.
Bolstered by isolated “sandbox” tabbing that prevents one tab from crashing another, Google claims Chrome also provides enhanced protection against rogue Web sites and includes a more powerful JavaScript V8 engine “to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.”
According to Google, Chrome also manages to improve “speed and responsiveness across the board,” although it fails to back that boast by comparing performance with the likes of IE, Firefox and Safari.
The new open-source Google Chrome beta (for Windows systems only at this juncture) has been built using components of Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, and is being released to prompt broad and constructive user discussion -- which it undoubtedly will -- to help Google amass as much vital feedback as quickly as possible.
To further support its collaborative open-source approach, Google is making all of Chrome’s code open in an effort to source abilities across the entire development community “to help drive the web forward.”
Google is also “hard at work” on versions of Chrome for computers running on Apple and Linux operating systems.
Those interested in learning more about the motivation behind Chrome ahead of its release later today can do so by enjoying this specially-made online comic.
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