Google’s Chrome is aimed at Windows, not IE

This is no longer about browser but about the an entire marketplace spread between desktop, mobile and web. With Chrome, Google’s taking a shot at Windows, not paltry Internet Explorer

I’ve covered this in more detail on my blog
http://sachendra.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/googles-chrome-is-aimed-at-windows-not-ie/

Kevin, just wanted to say thanks for answering my question so quickly.

“We are so, so happy with Google Chrome,” mumbled Mozilla CEO John Lilly through gritted teeth. “That most of our income is from Google has no bearing on this statement.” – http://notnews.today.com/?p=57

“Chrome’s approach to have each tab, Javascript thread and plug-in running as independent processes could actually offer worse performance”

As I understand it, there’ll be a process per tab. The JS and plug-ins will run in separate threads within the tab’s process space.

Using separate processes for security reasons is something that we’ve seen with server apps like apache and sendmail – interesting to see it in the GUI world too. Sun are doing a similar thing with the new JVM plugin in 6u10.

The thing that’ll be most interesting is whether Google will develop some RIA environment to make the most of the improved JS performance. A standard set of components which render in Canvas elements that can bind to a JS model – similar to flex or Silverlight – would be the next logical step.

Cody, I see very limited similarity between the Google Chrome home page and the Linpus interface on the AAO. Out of the box and with limited or no Linux knowledge there’s very little a user can do to modify the Linpus Lite desktop. You can go within one of the four program groups and choose which of the 3 apps you want to show on the home screen, but that’s about it. Chrome will automatically set the 9 sites up based on your web-surfing habits. Perhaps, there’s some visual similarity, but then you could say the same with the Xandros interface on the Eee PC. Still, it’s mainly visual and less of a functional similarity.

Curt, excellent point and I’m looking forward to the new JVM!

Kevin,

I think the V8 engine is another great plus, especially if it ends up being optimized for lower power machines. The JVM’s in currently available browsers could be a lot better. It sounds like Google is addressing this in Chrome, which should make for a better experience with all kinds of web apps, not just Google apps.

Curt

So OS=Browser and Tab=Application in Chrome?

Kevin, to me the interface of the home screen sounds a lot like the Linpus interface that the Acer Aspire 1 had. What is your thought on that?

If they’re smart, only the current tab will take up CPU time. The other tabs should drop to very low priority background processes. If Google does not do that, I’d be VERY surprised.

Alright, thank you google!
I’ve been ‘faking’ this w/ firefox 3 by running different profiles for each app (firefox http://gmail.com -P gmail -no-remote) which runs firefox in a different process as long as you use a different profile name. So for reader, gmail, docs etc I have no interference. It’s cumbersome to setup though and has none of the other enhancements like javascript. But until they release for linux/mac this is a great way to isolate apps in firefox.

cobolt, after reading through the comic book, I gather that Gears will gain much more prominence than it has today. It looks to me that if developers want to create functionality for Chrome, they’ll be doing so through Gears so it’s going be a bigger part of the browser with Chrome. Think of the XUL framework for Firefox… it will be used to code new features for the browser.