> Google announces own web browser : Google Chrome

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO and ROBERT A. GUTH
September 1, 2008 5:54 p.m.

Google Inc. confirmed that it plans to launch its own Web browser, in the latest twist in a battle with Microsoft Corp. over key Internet technologies.

The Internet company, in a posting on its Web site Monday, indicated that a beta version of the software would be available for download on Tuesday.

The company said the software is designed to make it easier and faster to browse the Web, by offering enhanced address-bar features and other elements that are very different from those on other browsers. The product will be open-sourced, meaning others can modify the code.

"We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser," wrote Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president of product management. "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."

News of the project spread after an unconventional leak. Google Blogoscoped, a blog that follows the company, reported Monday that Google had sent it a comic book outlining the specifications of the browser -- which include a new format for "tabs" and the ability to view Web pages as thumbnails.

The launch is a risky move for Google, which competes against Microsoft's search service but has so far refrained from taking on the near-monopoly of its Internet Explorer browser. While there has been speculation for years that Google has been working on a browser, the Internet company has preferred to focus on Web applications and supported other browsers trying to compete indirectly.

Google's browser could create problems for the Mozilla Foundation, the organization that builds Firefox, a free browser that has become increasingly popular lately.

Google has been a partner with the Mozilla organization, providing engineering expertise and finances that are used to develop Firefox. Google and Mozilla last week renewed their agreement, which was set to expire in November, extending it until 2011.

A person close to Google said support for Mozilla is likely to continue.

Google has been working on the product for about two years, according to one person familiar with the matter. Work became more serious after Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 7 in 2006, according to one person familiar with the project. Google grew concerned that the browser would make it easier for Microsoft to route users to Microsoft's search service, which could hurt Google's market share.

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

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. 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. We realized 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.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. 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. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

This is just the beginning -- Google Chrome is far from done. We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we're committed to continuing on their path. We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better.

So check in again tomorrow to try Google Chrome for yourself. We'll post an update here as soon as it's ready.

Originally Posted by Bluffmaster

So when is it expected to launch ?