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Meet Chrome, Google's Windows Killer
by Michael Arrington on Sep 1, 2008

Make no mistake. The cute comic book and the touchy-feely talk about user experience is little more than a coat of paint on top of a monumental hatred of Microsoft.

Chrome, the Webkit-based Google browser that launches tomorrow at Google.com/chrome, will give them a real foothold on the desktop and way more control over how web applications perform. While it seems that Chrome is aimed at IE and Firefox, the target is really Windows.

They’ve built their own Javascript engine despite the fact that Webkit already has one. This should make Ajax applications like Gmail and Google Docs absolutely roar. When combined with Gears, which allows for offline access (see what MySpace did with Gears to understand how powerful it is), Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows.

Expect to see millions of web devices, even desktop web devices, in the coming years that completely strip out the Windows layer and use the browser as the only operating system the user needs. That was going to happen anyway, but Chrome + Gears just made the decision a whole lot easier for hardware manufacturers to make.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is stuck with a bloated closed source browser that they don’t even tether to their search engine for fear of more antitrust woes. Google can push their search engine and other web services all day long on Chrome, with no government interference. So not only will Chrome drive lots of incremental revenue to Google, it also paves the way for a Microsoft-free computing experience.

I love Chrome already and I haven’t even tried it yet (nor will I be using it much soon, since it will only work on Windows for now). But Google’s days of unchecked growth may soon come to an end. They are quickly becoming the new Microsoft.

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  • Exactly, Chrome will be removing that OS thing!…

    • I think it’s an over-exaggeration that chrome will replace Windows.
      See,finally,it’s running on Windows platform only hence it’s rather dependent on Windows for its own access.I think,it will rather turn IE to the path of extinction(coz mozilla is already on their side and now chrome will simply crush all IE hopes)

      • yeah, ’cause mozilla has ie on the ropes with its 19% share of browser users. i’m sure microsoft is scared.

      • It’s more important to look at this as a step in a longer term plan. I keep thinking what IBM was like way back when. Microsoft is heading down the something like same path. Yes, MS will be around forever because they have a ton of cash but there’s a lot of issues there that people are moving away from.

        • IBM is still very very heavy in computing, just not the computing you might be doing. I am a mainframe programmer and I know for a fact my company and other companies alike that have mainframes through huge amounts of money at IBM for their mainframes.

      • Actually, Chrome OS will run on a modified Linux kernel, with no Windows inbetween.

        I don’t think Chrome OS will be a ‘Windows killer’. It will, after all, just a browser, and nothing else that can make computers more fun/useful. Sure, webapps are powerful, but they far from provide all the kinds of usability that desktop apps can. I hope they add in a portion of that again at least (hey, it’s running Linux, it should be easy).

      • yeah..lol @ google os replacing Microsoft….have the vm…had just deleted it as a wast of space. The google os could rule on a hmm maybe blackberry…maybe. Oh and yeah I run linux 100% but all this hype about the google os is silly.

    • lol yeah. i want whatever you guys are smoking. you guys forget that no hardware on the planet will work without drivers, and drivers are all written for windows. so if you want no OS and just google chrome to be shipped on every PC, good luck. every hardware manufacturer will have to rewrite their drivers (new and existing) for…. “google chrome” os?

      keep dreaming homeboys. you have no clue as to the underlying system and the roles an OS plays. read up on operating systems. the most complex system in computer science after AI.

      • Screw what they’re smoking, I want what you’ve got.

        Drivers can be developed independently of the hardware manufacturers, just as Linux and other open source OS developers have been doing for years. In fact, lately I’ve been seeing even better out-of-box support for some hardware from Linux than from Windows XP. Sure the drivers exist, but often Linux “just works,” without me having to hunt down
        driver CDs or the manufacturer’s web site (which can be a bit of a problem when it’s the ethernet card it’s not recognizing).

        Several hardware manufacturers have even started writing drivers for their products for Linux. They want more market share, and as other operating systems climb in popularity it’s in the manufacturer’s best interest to make their hardware as compatible as possible with those OSes.

        So, yeah, I’ll keep on dreaming, and don’t be surprised when you hear someone someday say “I told you so.”

      • Dude, ever heard of Linux?
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

        I’m a Windows user and wouldn’t switch to Linux if they gave me 100 euros for it (but I would for a linux version of photoshop), but I must admit that it has way better driver support then Windows has.

      • It’s been nearly a year but Google just announced Chrome OS

        I think an “I told you so” is in order.

        http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

    • So with New Browser, Google Docs and other tools why do Google employees still use MS office-email client at their HQ as basic tools to due business ? why are Google employees required to use MS products as standard job requirement? Do you know they use Client server Oracle/Hyperion as ERP to run their business ? Do you expect that to go away ?

      Where are these ubber-Google products in the Google work areas ?
      Not to be found! they cant work that well or even found to be acceptable by Google stardards… No Microsoft isnt going anywhere … not even in Google

    • Why are we still talking about windows. In 2010, It will see the end. 2011 is Dooms Day for Windows. How google OS will kill Windows OSGoogle OS based on Chrome will kill Windows forever

    • Just installed Chrome. What I can’t figure out is why 90% of the content on the initial tabs was all Microsoft? Even f-ing Bing. In bed with the enemy or what?

    • Well, I plan to be using a net book soon for 98% of my internet. I can assure you it will not be running f-ing windows vista.

  • it should be fun to watch Google fail miserably. Google is a one hit wonder. Nothing more.

  • If Chrome is Open Source, I can hardly see the Justice Department doing anything. Secondly, any techniques Chrome uses to tie into Google’s online properties could simply be replicated in FF, Safari, and Opera, because the APIs won’t be secret and hidden.

    The Microsoft analogies simply don’t work. No one is forced to “buy” Chrome when they buy a PC. It’ll be open source and open web. Any competiting browser could tie into the same services, as long is it has enough performance. And finally, Google is unlikely to build services that won’t run without Chrome, that would be suicide.

    Chrome to me seems to be what Safari/WebKit were to KHTML. Apple took KHTML and made it alot better. Now Google is taking what Apple started and making it even better. It is likely that much if Chrome’s improvements to WebKit will simply be merged back into WebKit, perhaps with the exception of V8.

    Hats off to Google. I have long wished for years that browsers a) didn’t use a single thread/process for every tab/window b) were sped up significantly and c) hogged less memory.

    2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

    • Opensource != opensource. Maybe the license isn’t compatible (have a look at Sun’s CDDL Vs GPL) or there are lot of software patents involved and so on.

      >And finally, Google is unlikely to build services that won’t run without Chrome, that would be suicide.

      Of course not, they will build a browser-OS around Google. There are many ways to chain customers to a company – even with opensource and some gullible customers.

      >Now Google is taking what Apple started and making it even better.

      Did you see anything? You have just seen a comic, nothing more.

      >Hats off to Google.

      We should first try it :-)

    • I used Chrome for awhile and it DID start a new process for every tab. It was fast for awhile, then it started to slow down considerably.

      I’ll Stick with my IE.

  • “Google can push their search engine and other web services all day long on Chrome, with no government interference”

    With 70%+ market share, it’s wishful thinking that Google will be able to leverage their global search position to push Chrome downloads with no alternate services options. I’d expect serious DOJ/EU scrutiny of that. Also, before Chrome is an IE killer, it’s likely to be a Firefox killer (if it’s any good).

    • true since the market for people to lazy/busy/ignorant to change from ie will be firm in their browser for quite some time
      then again ie programers mient all be fired if mircosoft makes some really dumb moves

  • How can an open source project like this fail? Worse case no one uses Chrome, but all of Chrome’s improvements merge back into WebKit. Either way, we win, and more nails are driven into Internet Explorer’s crappy coffin.

    • Here here! I was just about to give up reading all these ramblings….

      Finally someone said something worth the space and bandwidth it takes to make a posting.

      Hats off to you cromwellian and to Google.

    • Dude, Open source browsers has been on this planet for many years and I agree some percentage of fools are using them just to show that they are cool and different.

      The fact is those fools still probably use Windows. IE 8 is better than any browser on earth. If you have not tried it. Use it …. you will be amazed

      • I have used Internet Explorer 6,7,8 Firefox 1,2,3 Safari, Opera, Chrome, Epiphany

        The only word I can use is IE Sucks badly! Really badly…. I cant understand how you can support such a horrible browser. Yeah! I have used IE8, the tabs open at quite a slow speed as compared to Firefox.

  • Please, let me no when i can DOWN-LOAD,it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • “I love Chrome already and I haven’t even tried it yet (nor will I be using it much soon, since it will only work on Windows for now)”

    This line adds a ton of credibility to the article.

    • IE 8 is better than any browser on earth. If you have not tried it. Use it …. you will be amazed. Then compare the features with Chrome and come back to this site for your comments

      • ie is on its 8th version chrome is on ITS FIRST the only fair way to compare how good it currently and how it will be by the time chrome os comes out is to compare it to early versions of ie

        if its beatting 4 or 5 then chrome should be better then ie pertty soon

      • Oh man can you say that in front of Benchmark results. This is Jet Age and Browser must be fast and sleek. which is not possible for IE for about 2000 years.

  • I really wonder why it would fail Josef? Its not trying to compete (but eventually will!) with browser war. :)

  • I’m excited. I just want the OS X version soon!

  • @JosefVirek Right, one hit wonder… you’re right, buddy. Search is just a one hit wonder, kind of like Gmail, Google Maps, Checkout, Analytics, you know, just stupid stuff that nobody uses.

    I’m sure you’re probably some washed up employee at some no-name firm, and yet it feels good to claim something as big as Google is going to fail miserably. You must be the dude who never swung at the ball when you were a child. Always hoped for the walk, but never even tried to hit a home run in your life.

    • Ah I see, some fanboy of Google.

      • Ah, I see, some complete fucking idiot.

        Get a fucking clue. “Ooh, look at me, I have a keyboard and lots of opinions!”… wanker.

    • Actually, Josef is kind of right. A hit product should actually make money, unlike Gmail, Docs, Google Earth, Lively, Google Video, YouTube, etc – pretty much everything else.

      • “A hit product should actually make money” ?? what kind of ignorant capitalist statement is THAT? a hit product is a product that many people like (and many people probably hate, some will argue) and it doesn’t matter if it makes money. that’s a profitable product. google is known for it’s free (web) services that surely cost a lot of money to develop but don’t bring in any cash (directly). and most of them are hit products.

      • GMail, etc. DO make money.

        Google’s business model is exactly the same as a TV station: deliver audience to advertisers. Google tried to expand their business by attracting more audience. This attracts more advertisers and more money from existing advertisers.

        The more products they have, the more time you spend on those products, the more money they make.

    • Google is becoming a ravenous rat.

    • Wow, I agree with where you are coming from but don’t you think that’s a bit overkill?

      I mean who are you? The guy that lost all that weigh eating Subway?

    • @Jared, don’t you ever talk to me you nitwit.

      • JosefVirek, a little guy that is a webmaster of some forgoten little site, his post all over the web distill venom towards google. Maybe google didn’t pageranked his site well. What was that you said? google buys ebay? really? come on. Tell you what, today you are getting a little bit of attention by me and Jared, don’t let that go to your head. Instead stop for a second and do something positive.

  • It’s Firefox that will suffer, not IE. Many IE users wouldn’t know how to change browser, nor why they might want to. Yet more data capturing opportunities for Big G.

    • Agreed, Firefox will likely lose more share from this than IE. The core Google targets (those likely to download and use a new browser) are pretty much on Firefox. Maybe Google wants to stop subsidizing Firefox development?

  • They need to build Chrome-only powerful application first to attract mass users.

    • That would be incredibly dumb.

      WebKit is a standards compliant rendering engine. The whole point of web standards is to make all of the browsing environments identical. Chrome is really just a super fast standards-compliant browser. The idea is to attract more users… not less. And that is why you don’t work at Google.

      • OK , why million of dumb people installed Silverlight?
        Because nbcolympics site was Silverlight-only powerful application.

        i maybe dumb , and i for sure don’t work at Google , but wait few months and you will see :

        * Improved Google Docs .. with a note : Sorry , Google docs use’s V8 JS and as of now its only supported by Google Chrome

        *Improved Gmail with much better speed and offline capabilities with a note : Sorry , Gmail 3.0 use’s V8 JS and Gears 2.0 and as of now its only supported by Google Chrome

        * Fell free to add to the list.

    • You cant compete if either can make money on it…
      the browser war ended when MS gave it away free and
      Netscape went under… no matter how popular Netscape was
      it failed…

      If you want to make money then sell it for retail…
      but again who would even waste even $5 if the alternative is free (IE or other)
      No forget it .. not even Google Spying (adsense) makes any sense…
      Its just another lame product from Google..

  • yeah, good luck with that … IE will not suffer from this Firefox, Opera, and Safari are the ones who will suffer.

  • Google creates their own WebKit browser and that means they hate Microsoft and it’s the end of Windows? Classic blogosphere, this is.

    Google’s M.O. is to create things and put them out there. Nobody outside of Silicon Valley will use this, just like most of Google’s “products.”

  • “Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows”

    I can’t stand the “browser as an OS” junk. The browser is not the OS nor is it an OS replacement. The browser is a installed application replacement. You still need an OS to actually power the machine. Doesn’t matter what OS it is (WinCE, Linux, XPe, etc), you are not replacing the core OS features using any browser.

    On top of that, if you think web apps are going to replace a desktop OS anytime soon you are clueless. All of these “nettop” devices and such are great, but what is the key hack everyone wants to do? Install Windows XP.

    The desktop OS isn’t dying yet, and a browser can never “replace an OS” until it is ready to manage I/O and everything else that goes along with actually running a device. As soon as it does that, it is considered a “OS” and not a “browser.” SoC and embedded type BIOS/OSs (which are Linux) can help fill part of that, but the fact remains the browser is not an OS.

    I’m not even sure Microsoft is as poorly positioned as many think to take this part of the market either. As they already have the OS that must be used to power the machine (WinCE, XPe), all they really have to do is come up with a lightweight install of Office and sync to the web instead of a physical local drive.

    • “The browser is not the OS nor is it an OS replacement.”

      sure it is.

      “The browser is a installed application replacement. You still need an OS to actually power the machine”

      correct. and linux works just fine.

      “if you think web apps are going to replace a desktop OS anytime soon you are clueless. ”

      Have you looked at what MySpace did with gears? Look, then comment.

      • Michael, what do you mean when you say “operating system”? Every definition I’ve ever heard of operating system involves communicating directly with hardware, which is something the browser doesn’t do. Now, it’s possible to say that function isn’t that important — as the famous OS as a “bag of drivers” quote from Netscape. But it doesn’t make the browser replace that bag of drivers. In fact, Linux often *doesn’t* “work just fine” when it comes to supporting hardware people need. Alternatively, sometimes Linux works better than other operating systems because it does a better job of supporting other hardware. So I’d say these functions are really important. I think you can say Google is making big news without throwing those issues overboard.

        The thing is, not everyone spends 100% of their time on the Web, or the cloud, or whatever you want to call it. I spend my time with musicians and visual people, and a lot of their time is spent with audio and video and visuals, and that means getting very intimate with hardware for those tasks. They might even do some of that in a browser, but the “bag of drivers” becomes vitally important.

        I think you’re dead-on to point out that this is a big power play for Google. But it can be that without having to blur the definition of what development environments provide. Development in C/C++ and development that talks to hardware is increasingly becoming niche (think gaming, 3D, video, audio, music), but those are all important niches.

        This is simply a better browser — nothing more. It just happens (and maybe this is what others are missing) that that’s a whole hell of a lot already.

      • Do you need a diagram then? You just conflicted your own saying.

        You said Linux works fine for an OS, which means Linux is the OS, which means a browser is not the OS.

        So, a browser is going to kill Windows? Did Firefox not already have a shot at being the browser running on a non-Microsoft OS that could kill Windows? Gears is great, but it already exists on Linux powered devices that can run Firefox.

        So again, why exactly is this new “OS replacement,” that is not actually an OS per your words, yet it is an OS per your again going to do to change the market (besides have ignorant people like you classify it as something it isn’t).

      • Michael, Linux will not work “just fine”. Consider the lack of drivers and other basic functions required for a tolerable user experience. There is a reason Linux only has a small fraction of the market.

      • Mike, sorry to say, but you’re wrong.

        Seems you’re pushing your web tablet idea a little too much. ;-)

      • You may want to give Big Larry in Redwood Shores a call and see if you can borrow that tail between his legs. I believe there is a tattoo on the tail that says Sun and something about network and computer.

      • Can you find a website other than My Space, one that people who have used microcomputers or mini-mainframes before the PC was created (say about 1979) or Windows even existed?

        My Space is preteen Faustian Hell on Mars.

      • A major hole in the no OS/linux plan is the windows only release- not necessarily a priority, but I guess the plan is to get windows users used to the concept, then move on with the embedded hardware vendors (like TC!)

      • The commenters here don’t have a clue. An os should be invisible. What google are trying to do is increase the number of applications you can run entirely from the browser by designing the browser like an os.

        Over time, with offline capability and better integration with hardware, theres no reason EVERYTHING couldn’t run entirely in the browser, at which point the os disappears. The os is already irrelevant if all you need is the web + document editing (which is 99% of users).

        Google’s just gonna make it easier.

      • The OS can’t be replaced but the desktop can.

        Google is just trying to do that. People already think of machines running only a browser as its desktop. Whatever the underlying OS.

      • “EVERYTHING couldn’t run entirely in the browser, at which point the os disappears.”

        there are so many holes in this argument its amazing… where does one even begin.. ignorance is bliss!

      • Good lord. Do people here not understand what an operating system actually *does*?

        I do get the concept of running web-based apps on a network client; I worked with diskless X terminals back in the early ’90s. But X wasn’t “the operating system” for the terminal, and it sure as hell wasn’t the operating system on the server (HP-UX for that particular project).

        Even a diskless device will have some sort of bare-bones OS in firmware on which the browser software (Chrome or whatever) will sit. There’s no way the Chrome browser will *directly* handle all the low-level file, memory, screen, and network management for the device; that way lies madness (unless Google decides it *wants* to build a different version of Chrome for every possible combination of hardware available).

        You’re talking about replacing Windows PCs (and potentially Macs and Linux boxen) with (diskless?) network devices using Chrome as the desktop environment; all well and good, although I don’t see that happening in really large numbers (bandwidth, availability and storage issues aside, I would like to have local copies of all my data, please). But please stop saying things like “the browser is the OS”, because it makes you sound like an idiot.

  • Good approach by Google, they are obviously trying to raise the bar for the browser. As they say, they are trying to bring in a new generation of applications for the web.

    However as good as Google is they haven’t moved very far past the technology savvy consumer, my siblings, cousins, friends, and extended family have never heard of 90% of Google’s offerings nor do they care to move away from what they are comfortable with.

    With that said, even if this is released tomorrow, I do not expect it to reach a very large market unless they can find new ways of `demanding` people download and use it. Since Google is the `do no evil`company I doubt that will happen. (Unless they become evil)

    Expect to see this on the Google OS as the OS moves from mobile phones to set-top boxes to the refrigerator door to your brain …:D we will see a whole new generation of browsers coming out…plus whats going to stop Microsoft and Mozilla from offering what Google will

  • So will Chrome track the sites you visit and report back to google or will it tailor ad’s to you according to the sites you visit.

    • I don’t even care about that, I’m more concerned as a developer that there is YET ANOTHER browser I have to make sure works fine with the sites I build. ;-)

    • Obviously you haven’t understood the concept of open source. Open source means anyone can look at the source, so it would be impossible for Google to add such tracking to Chrome.

      No one owns Chrome – Google doesn’t, and no one else does either.

      • Are you serious right now? Just because it’s opensource does not mean that the GOOGLE release doesn’t have shit in it that can track you. Check out the TOS for Chrome. They flat out tell you that everything you type in the addressbar is sent back to Google, and if you look further you find out that you don’t even have to hit enter and stuff is still sent back to Google.

        Google is notoriously bad with privacy.

        All the opensource thing means is that anybody can dissect it and make changes. Which means that there may eventually be second hand Chrome releases without the insane tracking, but until then..

  • I am glad Google is entering this space–it will catalyse things. But as a web developer I dread having to support yet another browser. To make matters worse, I am more or less locked into Firefox because of all the plugins I use (and IE for intranet apps). I would have preferred if Google went into the silverlight/flash space instead.

  • We fail to understand that the OS and software cost more than the hardware these days. If the browser becomes the OS, you will have an international influx of people who now can afford a computer efficiently. For Google, who cares if they are running on Linux. Vista is a liability by being both more cost prohibitive and slower anyway. More computer users means a bigger audience to blast with targeted ads.

    You can hate Google. At this point, they have no competition and they don’t care.

  • this is going to be an interesting war to watch.

  • Windows Killer? No. IE users won’t care. This will just split the Firefox/Opera/Safari crowd.

  • MEEET LYNX… google killer :P

  • I found new information, :D

  • Stop the bullshit, nonsense, TECHCRUNCH hype you give to everything google. This is cool, no doubt, but NOT a windows killer. Really, this is just a BETA project, that everyone thinks is going to change the world…

    GOOGLE, how about fixing BASE, Checkout, and the other failed initiatives. Just like checkout was going to be the paypal killer. Chrome is going to be well, shiny, yet easy to scratch off.

  • Gee, another party in the committee when it comes to web standards. All open source, why can’t they just help make firefox better?! Just dreaming…

  • Browser Doesn’t Equal OS {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/ahezMcc4N3_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”Browser Doesn’t Equal OS ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/MIF8Zcjv0d”}}}

  • “Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows”

    I’m confused as to how to can compete with Windows when it, for now, will require Windows.

  • Mike,

    So are you gonna run GChrome on TechCrunch Tablet?

  • uh… browsers are cool and everything, but they cannot replace every function of an OS. For instance, non HTTP based messaging and USB.

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