So, for those that don’t already know, Google’s working on a new browser called chrome. To be honest, I don’t see the point. Each tab having it’s own process is unnecessary, if anything the renderer should have a seperate thread. Firefox already has ubiquity, which is in-the-works. Firefox 4 will have a javascript VM. I can see the point in sandboxing each plugin, but that’s the only good point I see. Why is google making their own browser, when they could just as easily pay some firefox devs to get what’s already planned done faster?
Update: John Resig posted his reaction
Update #2: And so has Alex Russel.
Even after reading the two responses, I still don’t seem to get it. The cartoon I read talks about how the architecture is superior, but Alex’s post is talking about how chrome is getting back to the content part of the web. Maybe I’m missing something here.
Update #3: I’ve read the post on the google blog now. I’m still confused, but it seems that it’s trying to provide a clean un-cluttered browser. I don’t think we need that, if anything I think the browser should become smarter, and do things involving microformats. Eh, I’ll wait until tomorrow until I make my final decision on weather or not it’s necessary.
One Comment
In cases like this, it’s best to ignore the nonsense put out by the PR dept and focus on the busienss aspects. It doesn’t serve Google’s business goals to have the gateway to its services controlled by 3rd parties like Microsoft with whom it has a hostile relationship, and Mozilla, of which it holds a pretty low opinion. By creating its own browser, it avoids having to negotiate with Mozilla and the Firefox community over what ends up in the browser.