Just as Microsoft finally gets around to updating its Windows-only Internet Explorer browser for the first time in years, Google announced the release its own open-source browser, Chrome. The first beta version is now available for Windows — Mac and Linux editions are coming later.
In typical Google cutesy marketing fashion, they’ve created an online comic book explaining Chrome. Here are some screenshots to show what Chrome users will experience. And here’s a YouTube video:
Steve Yelvington contends that Chrome will be more than just a Web browser. “The vision for Chrome …is to create an environment that optimally manages and coordinates Web-based applications. That sounds a lot like the classic definition of an operating system. …And yes, it’ll be a browser, too. But the emphasis and the focus has suddenly shifted. Instead of the focus being on displaying Web pages, it’ll be on running processes and storing data (fixing the offline-usage problem). Your ‘desktop’ and your data will be both local and remote, automatically synchronized through Google Gears.
Why should news organizations care? Because so far news organizations have been focusing heavily on content and advertising — but not so much on providing applications. I think there’s room to grow in this space. We’re just starting to see that on the iPhone platform, where news orgs like Associated Press and the New York Times have created compelling and useful iPhone apps. If Chrome really does work as a Web OS, then that might support more robust news-related Web apps from news organizations — which might open new business model possibilities.
Mathew Ingram notes that there are other platforms for running Web apps that work separately from the browser, such as Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, and Mozilla Prism. He concludes: “There’s no question that the line between Web and desktop is blurring, and Chrome may well continue that process. But whether it is the ultimate answer — and whether the average Web user will even care — is still a pretty big question mark.”
It’s not clear yet whether Chrome will eventually go mobile — but Google is pushing hard to get phones with its open source Android mobile platform into the market in the next few months. This will be an especially interesting space to watch.
