September 2nd, 2008 saw the much anticipated release of Google’s latest offering, a web browser called Google Chrome. A product of Google’s open-source project Google Chromium, the browser, still in beta phase, clearly aims to lessen Internet Explorer’s stranglehold on web browsers the same way browsers like Firefox and others have attempted to do so. A comic book representation of Google Chrome a day before the browser’s official release was innovative and certainly succeeded in building up hype and expectations among millions around the world. Google Chrome was released for download in some 100 countries and as of now is only available for download on Windows platform (XP/Vista). It can be downloaded via this link
My verdict: Google Chrome has received mixed reviews and most of them suggest, as I feel too, that it promises a lot but lacks finish. As it stands, it is clearly an unfinished product with a long way to go before it can be embraced as a serious competitor to IE8.
The minimalist UI is appealing to those who like it simple. There are a few new features but not wholly different from those offered by the other mainstream browsers. In the short term, I doubt it’s going to have any significant effect on IE’s dominance.
I am going to stick with Firefox 3 for now but will keep an eye out for Google Chrome especially once it’s out of beta testing.
Stumble It!
Kachruster 