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Google polishes product line with Chrome browser

BY JAMES BERNSTEIN |james.bernstein@newsday.com

5:50 PM EDT, September 2, 2008

 

Google software engineer Ben Goodger introduces their new browser,"Chrome," during a news conference at Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, Spet. 2, 2008. Google Inc. is releasing Chrome in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine. (Paul Sakuma, Associated Press / September 2, 2008)

It's called "Chrome" but it isn't any part of an automobile.

Chrome is the name of the new Google Web browser made available starting yesterday in beta test form by the giant search engine company that is seeking to compete more directly with Microsoft, whose Explorer has dominated the browser market for more than a decade.

"Google is using this as a branding opportunity," said Roger L. Kay,president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a research firm in Wayland, Mass. "I see it both as an offensive and defensive move" onGoogle's part.

Touting the advantages of its browser, Google said Chrome will make it easier to run applications without downloading them to a computer. It will also isolate flawed Web pages so that they can be closed without them shutting down the entire browser, Google said.

But whatever its use, industry experts said Chrome is an attempt by Google, the nation's No. 1 search engine, to engage with software industry leader Microsoft, which controls more than 70 percent of the browser market. Google's Chrome is intended to drive users to other Google applications and it can be downloaded free at google.com/chrome.

"Nobody's done much damage to Microsoft's market share yet," said David Card, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. Chrome, Card said, "will need something to differentiate it" from other browsers. "In order to get a user to switch, you'd have to have something to make it differentor better," Card said.

Since Chrome is brand new, Card and others said, it is too soon to say whether the browser presents something new, different or better than Microsoft's Explorer, Mozilla Corp's Firefox or Apple Inc.'s Safari.

Clayton F. Moran, an Internet analyst for the investment firm the Stanford Group, said he did not think there would be a "really big difference" between Chrome and other browsers.

"The whole idea is to drive people to Google," Moran said. "But it does offer consumers another option. If Google can innovate and provide good functionality, then that will be a help to consumers."

According to Google, Chrome is to be available for downloading in more than 100 countries, including the United States. Google also said it will offer Chrome as open-source software. That means programmers will be able to edit the code and add their own features.