Internet giant Google has for the first time entered the Web browser marketplace with Tuesday's release of  Chrome, the Mountain View, California-based search leader's new challenge to Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer and Mozilla's popular Firefox software. Designed by Google over the past two years with a goal of making the Web easier to browse, Chrome is a free open source Web browser sporting an innovative method of using graphical tabs to bypass software crashes and a private browsing feature. Google Challenges Microsoft Internet Explorer's 74 Percent Market Share Google has achieved success in part due to playing a major role in how computer users navigate the Web, with the success of its search engine, which has a market share hovering at around 70 percent. However the browsing software used by nearly three out of four people is owned by Microsoft with its ubiquitous Internet Explorer application. Tuesday's test release of Chrome aimed to take away some of Microsoft's browser dominance, in a move that harkened back to the Redmond, Washington company's own initial browser release as it battled then-dominant Netscape. Released in more than 40 languages in over 100 countries, the new Chrome browser was "based on the simplicity and power that users have come to expect from Google products," and designed to deliver "a better web experience for users around the world," according to an announcement from Google. Google said that while Apple Macintosh and Linux versions of Chrome were expected by the end of the year, users of Microsoft Windows computers could download the new browser today at a new Web site set up for the launch. With Chrome Google sought to bring people closer to the Web browsing experience by removing as much interference as possible derived from the browser application. "We think of the browser as the window to the web -- it’s a tool for users to interact with the web sites and applications they care about, and it’s important that we don’t get in the way of that experience," said Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai in the Tuesday announcement. Danish V8 JavaScript Engine A Ground-Up Creation A team of Google engineers in Aarhus, Denmark designed V8, a new way to more effectively handle JavaScript, the code used extensively by many of today's popular Web sites, resulting in what Google and some early  testers have seen as a marked improvement in browsing speed. "Google also built a new JavaScript engine, V8, which not only speeds up today's web applications, but enables a whole new class of web applications that couldn't exist on today's browsers," Google said of the system, which was expected to usher in a new wave of future Google-based applications utilizing V8. Google has increasingly taken aim at the world's largest traditional software maker, challenging Microsoft with a series of free and low cost Web-based applications that have gained a growing number of users who prefer the access-anywhere functionality of Google Apps. Attempting to capitalize on its position as the top search engine firm, the new Chrome browser uses a single combined Internet search and Web address bar, part of Google's push to "make it easy for users to search and navigate the web," Google said. One of the most innovative new features of Chrome was the inclusion of a tabbed browsing system that was designed to allow multiple Web sites, each in it's own graphical tab, to remain operating even when one site stopped working. Google said this "multi-process platform" would provide better stability and cut down on losing online work. A Departure From Mozilla Yet Ties Remain "Each browser tab operates as a separate process; by isolating tabs, should one tab crash or misbehave, others remain stable and responsive, and users can continue working without having to restart Google Chrome," Google said. Google explained the benefits of separate browser tab processes by asking, "Have you ever had 18 sites open in your browser and watched it slow to a crawl because of something happening in one of the tabs? Ever had the whole browser crash because one of those tabs had a problem?" In a nod to long-time partner Mozilla and other open source initiatives, Google said Chrome would not have been possible had it not been for the dedication of such groups. "While we see this as a fundamental shift in the way people think about browsers, we realize that we couldn’t have created Google Chrome on our own," said Google director of engineering Linus Upson. "Google Chrome was built upon other open source projects that are making significant contributions to browser technology and have helped to spur competition and innovation," Upson added. Simultaneously released with the new Google browser was the project's open source arm, called Chromium, available at www.chromium.org. Despite the release of Chrome, last week Google signed a deal that extended its partnership with Mozilla until November 2011. The agreement will keep Google as the default homepage on Firefox Web browsers. Firefox holds some 19 percent of the browser market share, while Apple's Safari browser controls some 6 percent. The ability to browse the Web privately using Chrome, "without storing a record on your computer," was implemented using a system Google has dubbed "InCognito," although the new browser-maker made it clear in its documentation that the privacy mode was not meant to erase all forms of tracking, such as those done at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level. "Google Chrome lets you have an InCognito window along side a regular window so that you can multi-task more effectively," Google added. Google Enters Web Browser Marketplace With Release Of Chrome Among the members of WebmasterWorld, one of the oldest and most popular Web sites serving mostly the technically-savvy people who manage Web sites and specialize in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), the  importance and ramifications of the Tuesday release of Google Chrome were widely debated. One member of WebmasterWorld, using the handle "venti" found using Chrome a pleasant experience. "It's about the fastest browser I have used to date," the member wrote, an experience echoed by another member, "SuzyUK", who called the new Google browser "lightning fast so far." Chrome could help Google create more powerful hosted applications, concluded a member using the handle "mattur". "If you were looking for a way to make Web applications behave more like desktop applications, you'd come up with Chrome," the user wrote. Others worried that Google entering the browser market could make it harder to test Web pages, and that the Internet giant could be getting too large. "It is just me, or has the fox been allowed to guard the chickens?" asked a WebmasterWorld member using the handle "tangor". Related Links:
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