The Google browser has raised its head, and is being called Google Chrome. It is based on Webkit, and aims to be clean and fast. I did not find anything new, most of the new browsers talk about this.
There is one killer feature they talk of - sandboxed tabs. John Resig explains reasons behind why browsers have not adopted this. It will be really interesting to follow this. I also liked that they have borrowed good features from other browsers like Opera. But the best part of this browser is its introduction in the comic book!
Otherwise there is nothing new. Even the screenshots are available now. I was looking for explicit commitment to standards, but did not see it. The biggest hurdle in compliance with standards today is the browser war. If Google is participating in it, I will like to see them steer it in direction of standards. I sincerely hope that they will make it easier to work with even the non-Google applications.
As far as becoming the OS and ruling desktops, I hope they do not try that. I want the browser to bring the Web to me instead of trying to do everything for me. I am not against innovation and more power to browsers, but that should not put browsing the Web and compliance to standards on the back burner.
Somehow I get a feeling that this attempt is going to be more focused on the mobile world. The talk of better memory management and light-weight features too point towards that. However, only time, and Google, can tell us more.
