Google continues to shake up the Internet with its announcement of a new entrant into the Browser Wars 2.0: Chrome.
Aiming squarely at Microsoft’s IE8, which is said throw in a few features that bypass Google, the new browser will incorporate multi-processing and minimal overhead. It’s based on the open source WebKit, the same engine that runs Apple’s Safari, so a Mac and Linux version (from where it originally came) wouldn’t be too difficult to produce.
News of the announcement was leaked when a German blogger received early proofs for a comic that Google produced to introduce Chrome.
The original launch date was moved up to today.
Taking on the Microsoft hegemony has been part of Google’s gameplan for a while. Already, as part of its online offerings, Google offers a set of free Office-compatible services called Google Docs which have scared the Micro-juggernaut into comparable (but commercial) “Office Live Workspace“. Taking the next logical step, and providing a browser to run them on was inevitable. Will a linux-based GoogleOS be far behind? Already, it has taken on the mobile platform with Android.
The likely location for the download will be: gears.google.com/chrome/?hl=en
