One of my favorite columnists, Bob Cringely, has a post this week on Chrome and why Google is bothering to do it.
Mr Bob thinks that Google is doing this:
* to get some counter play against Microsoft, should MS ever turn off the ad capability in IE;
* to enable it to do really good stuff with Google apps (the often mediocre support for Javascript in browsers hinders Google from doing anything but generic stuff in Google docs).
Cringely suggests that Google's not really invested in Chrome. By using Webkit and open source--so goes this logic--Google can help give a technology boost to non-IE browsers, which in turn gives them greater market share, which in turn leaves Microsoft less in control of things. Hence according to this logic, Google would actually welcome Mozilla's winning a "battle" with Chrome, as long as it keeps the major browsers advancing technically, in an more open environment, and out of the totalitarian control of evil Microsoft.
By the way, according to this column, IE8 is bad. Here's a pertinent quote from the column:
Google's main concern is quite simple: Browsers should render pages accurately, and the JavaScript engine in the browser should be fast, efficient, and bug free. On both counts, IE8 is an abomination. JScript just doesn't behave very well and is buggy. And, IE's page-rendering engine simply does not follow the standard. Because of this, Google has to keep development on their Google Applications quite generic and simply cannot implement the features they want. You'll also notice that Microsoft recently has been putting on some very compelling web content that is only available if you use Windows and IE.
I listened to the same column (always thoughtful) - although in this case I think Cringely misses the real story. The reason Chrome is a big deal is because the browser has the potential for making the operating system obsolete.
As computer parts are increasingly commoditized and the ultra-small PCs continue morph into cell phones like devices (and vice versa) the actual hardware will move towards free.
How much is a Google customer worth to Google - one who uses Google Apps for productivity etc? This customer acquisition cost will quickly approach and then exceed the price of the hardware - at which point Google can give away a Google branded device (or smart phone) - one built for and around Chrome and Google Apps.
The consumer gives up the ability to choose some OS and Apps (or at least the defaults are set to Google) -but gets a subsidized (or free) piece of hardware.
This is why Chrome matters...and why Microsoft should be worried (and why Apple should stick to premium products/services).
Posted by: Joshua Kim | September 08, 2008 at 03:49 PM
The guy, Pter Svensson, who wrote an article in the Valley News (yup) about Chrome yesterday, seemed more impressed with IE8. He likes to open lots of tabs - 40 or 50! - and complains that Flash in pages starts really slowing Firefox down. (I agree.) He found the same problems with Chrome but not with IE 8.
Posted by: Brian Reid | September 08, 2008 at 04:29 PM