Google enters browser wars with Google Chrome

As I write this, it’s just hit midnight over here and so today is the official release date of Google Chrome (it’s not, see update 2). Google Chrome is a new open source web browser.

Update: Chrome now available. See update 3.

Developed completely in-house, Google Chrome makes some pretty bold claims about being faster, better, and being built for the future.

They’ve also released an entertaining comic book to guide us through some of the amazing new features that Google Chrome is planning to offer:

• A multi-threaded approach, similar to the way modern operating systems work. This will mean faster page loads.
• Running each tab in a separate process, therefore it promises to be more memory efficient.
• A task-manager for handling different tabs. This will enable you to see which tabs are using the most memory.
• An advanced rendering engine, combining the best of both Firefox’s Gecko and Safari’s webkit technologies – regarded to be the best in the business of rendering web pages.
• A completely redone JavaScript engine called V8, which promises blazingly fast JavaScript rendering. Firefox 3 is currently the fastest renderer, will Google Chrome beat it?
• An intelligent URL bar, called the “Omnibox” – similar to Firefox 3’s awesome bar.
• Each tab is sandboxed, meaning that a tab cannot by itself initiate commands and execute software. This is a nice improvement in security and should result in safer, more secure browsing.

There are a couple of features I haven't mentioned. I recommend you give the comic a good read through to find out about all the new features.

I’m personally very interested in this. As much as I love using Firefox and all its extensions and skins, it does get to be a memory hog at times. Plus I always appreciate faster page loads.

I’ll update when Google Chrome becomes available for public testing, which should be in a few hours. This software is at this point for Windows only.

Update: Google had posted screenshots at gears.google.com/chrome. However this was quickly taken down and now redirects to the Google homepage.

Update 2: Just read that the official release date is slated for the 3rd of September. It’ll also be released to just 100 countries worldwide. So not only do we have to wait for at another day, but it might not even be available here in Malta. Boo!

Update 3: GOOGLE CHROME NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD… and it’s everything I hoped for. Initial speed tests place it far above even Firefox and Safari.

Download at google.com/chrome

If that doesn’t work for you, I’ve set up a temporary mirror which you can download Chrome from. To download click here.

It imported all my Firefox bookmarks and settings seamlessly. It even placed the stuff in its own bookmarks toolbar just like the way I’m used to from Firefox. It also imported the home page, and all my saved passwords.

A full review is forthcoming.

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