With Firefox’s recent download World record and Microsoft working on a beta version of Internet Explorer 8, Google is sending shockwaves in the browser war with the planned release of Chrome, a distant relative of KDE’s Konqueror and Apple Safari, built from scratch with the same WebKit rendering engine.
Google already runs Internet search, it seems the company also wants to run Internet browsing. News about the Web browser leaked when German blogger Philipp Lenssen received the press release, published in the form of a comic strip, two day ahead of schedule. Lenssen scanned the document and made it available online.
Chrome is built for memory optimization and multi-threading of tabs and plugins. Tabs are easier to play with or move around, much like on Opera, and the application keeps track of search forms to allows faster access. Regarding security on Windows Vista, scripts run with restricted privileges and the application cross-checks URL’s against a list of malware or phishing sites.
Released as Open Source, the Chrome browser, the V8 Javascript virtual engine and the URL repository are all made available to the community. It will be interesting to see how they integrate it with Google Documents and Picasa. On paper, Chrome promises to enhance user experience and security, although there might be question about collecting data on web surfers.
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