Google Chrome - a Maverick internet browser?

• Author: Kim
• Filed under: 'Ze Think Tank, Ethics, Internet, Technology
• Date: Sep 5,2008

Tomorrow is supposed to be an historic day for the Blogger community of the Philippines, that’s because a Wordcamp is taking place in Manila for the first time.  It’s too bad I’m booked to fly to Manila on the 18th instead which concludes how impractical it is for me to decide to fly in earlier for Wordcamp, come back to Davao then back again to Manila on 18.  When I accidentally called Ria this morning (mistaking her for my friend Ria Lumapas), I got to ask her where she was and she replied matter-of-factly, “I’m in Manila.” Hearing those words, I suddenly felt a crushing sense of panghihinayang.  The closest English equivalent of which would be…regret.

Oh well, life moves on.  Hopefully when I move to the States I’ll catch the Wordcamp in San Francisco, booya!

Meanwhile, a blogger who’s not in the field is obviously mulling about the internet.  Just now I downloaded the beta version of Google’s new browser Google Chrome and for a Beta version it has so far impressed me with its speed.  It’s phenomenally faster than Mozilla 3.0 and is apparently more efficient than Safari.  Apart from the exciting fact that Chrome is Open source, it introduces a very unique way of managing javascript by incorporating multiple process in one browser.  Now the brainiacs from Google can best explain what that means not me, definitely, no.  Luckily, they came up with a very friendly way of helping us understand…through a comic strip!

(Note: Click on the images to enlarge, Duh.) The rest of the comic strip is here.

Now, another issue critics are saying about the new Google Chrome is that its suspiciously introducing the browser to the market the way Microsoft used to that elbowed Netscape Browser out of the competition (remember that?).  The strategy was called the Three E’s (Embrace, Extend, Extinguish).  Wikipedia has this to define that very enigmatic yet ruthless adage:

The alleged strategy’s three phases are:

1. Embrace: Development of software substantially compatible with a competing product, or implementing a public standard.
2. Extend: Addition and promotion of features not supported by the competing product or part of the standard, creating interoperability problems for customers who try to use the ’simple’ standard.
3. Extinguish: When extensions become a de facto standard because of their dominant market share, they marginalize competitors that do not or cannot support the new extensions.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Microsoft critics, and computer-industry journalists claim that the goal of the strategy is to monopolize a product category. Such a strategy differs from J. Allard’s originally proposed strategy of embrace, extend then innovate only in how the final step is viewed. Microsoft asserts that this strategy is not anti-competitive, but rather an exercise of its discretion to implement features it believes customers want.

Pretty sly, eh?  Now Google can argue that it wouldn’t be that case because after that infamous case with Microsoft, the browser wars emerged and thus different people with varying personalities, interests and that-which-makes-them-tick have adapted to different browsers.  I am really a Safari girl while my brother is the Mozilla freak.  So is it possible that Google is trying to plunge into the Internet Browser world so that they can sieze on the market that wants to avail what only THEY can provide?  I think that the difference now is how Google has always quietly portrayed itself as Not the big bag wolf Microsoft is.  Sure the open source guise will let people tinker with how the guys from Google figured out how to hasten and manage rendering speed more effectively.  But they’ll be laughing while the other developers crawl their way through possibly…months before anyone gets to apply it on their new patch versions of (insert name of another Internet browser here).

One last thing: why would you want yet another browser?  Well Google’s giving you an incentive to use theirs.  Apart from the speedier rendering, naturally its the most powerful tool for using your favorite Google applications.  They have a comparative advantage when it comes to improving how they deliver their services through Google Chrome.  I’m really loving the Beta, I can’t wait for the next patch!