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Google says its new open source browser project will be ready for public consumption on Tuesday in 100 countries.
In a strange move well short of an official announcement, the web search giant 'leaked' a web comic to a blog site, detailing features of Google Chrome - a new browser well capable of putting a dent in Microsoft's Internet Explorer's market share.
Although Google is using a cartoonish approach to promote Chrome, the new browser underscores the gravity of Google's rivalry with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer is used by about 75 per cent of Web surfers.
Google's lead in the lucrative internet search market is nearly as commanding, with its engine processing nearly two-thirds of the Web's queries.
For the past few years, Google has been trying to take advantage of its search engine's popularity to loosen Microsoft's grip on how most people interact with personal computers.
The assault so far has been focused on a bundle of computer programs, including word processing and spreadsheet applications, that Google offers as an alternative to one of Microsoft's biggest money makers, its Office suite of products.
Google has tried to make its alternatives more appealing and accessible by hosting them for free over internet connections instead of requiring users to pay a licensing fee to install them on individual computers, as Microsoft typically does.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has tried to thwart Google by investing billions in the development of its own search engine and making an unsuccessful attempt to buy Yahoo for $47.5 billion.
The tensions between Microsoft and Google now seem likely to escalate with Google's foray into Web browsing.
Until now, Google had been trying to undermine Internet Explorer by supporting Firefox, a web browser developed by the open-source Mozilla Foundation.
Bolstered by an advertising partnership with Google's search engine, Firefox ranks as the second most popular browser, with a market share of more than 10 per cent. Google recently extended its advertising alliance with Firefox through 2001.
Bearing the stamp of Google's renowned brand, Chrome could be an even more formidable rival to Explorer.
Still, Google's name is no guarantee of success. For instance, Google's instant messaging service has not come close to catching up to the market-leading products made by Yahoo, Microsoft and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL.
In a blog post, Google touted Chrome as a more sophisticated web browser better suited for displaying the dynamic and interactive content blossoming on the Web as people migrate from television, radio and newspapers.
"The web gets better with more options and innovation," Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google's engineering director, wrote in the posting. "Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the Web even better."
Microsoft brushed aside the threat posed by Google in a statement Monday from Dean Hachamovitch, Internet Explorer's general manager.
"The browser landscape is highly competitive, but people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips ... and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online," Hachamovitch said.
Even as it has backed Firefox, Google has openly fretted about the possible ramifications of Microsoft's huge lead in Web browsing.
Google is worried that Microsoft could abuse its power by manipulating Internet Explorer's default settings in a way that might diminish traffic to Google's search engine, which serves as the hub of the largest online ad network.
In 2006, Google contacted the Justice Department to raise alarms about changes to Internet Explorer that Google believed made it more difficult to install search toolbars made by Microsoft's rivals. Although regulators decided not to intervene, Microsoft subsequently modified the way Explorer handled the selection of search toolbars.
Inside Chrome
Chrome will include a new JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8 which was developed from scratch by a team in Denmark. V8 aims to speed up JavaScript performance inside the browser.
Google says it is using a 'multi-process design' which means 'a bit more memory up front' and less memory bloat.
RAM-hungry plug ins or web pages will be obvious to Chrome users as they pop up at the top of the browser's task manager.
It will also use tabbed browsing a la Firefox, but rather than placing tabs below the address bar, they'll be located on the upper side of the window itself.
The default homepage employed in Chrome presents users with nine screenshot thumbnails of most-visited webpages, recent searches and bookmarked pages.
Chrome will feature a 'porn mode' similar to that adopted by the new beta version of Internet Explorer 8, but will use an 'incognito window'. Nothing that occurs in the window is recorded by either the browser or the system itself.
It will also run web apps directly from the browser, sans address and toolbar.
In order to combat malware and phishing, Chrome will constantly update its list of harmful sites. Google says that whatever is run in a tab will be 'sandboxed' so it can be safety closed, although user-installed plug-ins may sneak through the system.
In a blog posting, Google admitted that it is early stages for the new browswer: "This is just the beginning - Google Chrome is far from done," it said.
"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."
- NZ HERALD STAFF/AP
