| Today, Google released Google Chrome, a web browser!!! It assumes very significance from the very fact that the download link is right on "Google Home Page" which never happened to any of their product releases. |  |
As I started analyzing things, few things stand out…
Open Source – This is a fork of Webkit , an open source project. By this Google straight away wins the hearts and minds of open source lovers all over the world, making adoption of this browser viral. Google will never look “Evil” at least the time being, Privacy groups will never be able to complain as anyone could review and scrutinize.
Faster – Early tests reveal that it is faster that Firefox and IE in rendering web pages; a reason for many users to switch to Chrome.
V8 Javascript virtual machine – This java scripting engine is 3 times faster in executing scripts. This gives them enormous power to deliver productivity applications like Google docs better and better. Google’s assets will be tuned run faster on this browser increasing adoption of Chrome
Anonymous browsing – If Microsoft announced “Privacy mode” in IE8, Chrome got this anonymous browsing.
Tabs - Tabs are located on top of the window and not under the url bar. This makes the Tabs central part of user experience and tabs can me moved around by “tearing off”! !!
Tabs (Technical) – This is one feature that made me look closer. Each Tab is a process, which means these are isolated, safer and I can kill any rouge application just by closing the tab. There is a “task manager” to see the stats like memory consumption, etc for each tab.
Search interface – It is definitely intuitive; you do not have a separate text box for search.
Availability: Chrome is available for Windows first, then Mac and finally on Linux. This very clearly shows whom Google is going after.
Automatic updates – As per user license agreement, Chrome will be updated by Google, which means, expect new additional features and any security holes plugged slowly on to the browser.
There are already mixed reviews from the pres. Some are rating Chrome just below Firefox and above IE. On the other hand, some are skeptical as there is nothing compelling for a seasoned user of IE or Firefox.
Let me guess the long term impacts of this Chrome release.
Google will release Silverlight / Flash Equivalent: Given that the web bandwidth is increasing and becoming cheaper, users no longer look for simplicity; users need experience. Flash/Silverlight equivalent is the only way Google will be able to deliver rich user experience. Google Docs is a classical example where user experience is utmost important. Looking at V8, this is inevitable in the long run.
Chrome adoption will be in pockets and grow slowly: Google followers, open source developers, and geeks will embrace Chrome immediately. Hardware vendors may offer Chrome as another choice. Unless Google releases few “cool” features, like how Apple revolutionized portable music and phone users, adoption could be slow and limited to these pockets.
Google becoming a complete software platform provider: Google is already proven in services platform, now getting into software platform by way of Chrome browser platform and android Mobile OS platform.
Google may deliver services and software on their own hardware Platform – From Services to Software to hardware; that’s the way I see. Experience and stickiness can happen only with consumer experience. Extreme experience can happen only when “Services + Software + hardware” are under one hood like Apple products and gaming consoles like X-Box / PlayStation.
More and more, we are spending our time using browser in our everyday life. The paintbrush, calculator, control panel and everything else is becoming trivial things. Browser plug-ins like Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s SilverLight deliver a more visually appealing experience on the browser.
I am not predicting about special users like developers, animators, designers and large servers that run in datacenters, but when it comes to computing need for normal consumers, choice of operating system will become insignificant decision factor and experience & perceived value will be the norms. We are already seeing such behaviors on Mobile, Apple and Nintendo buying trends.
To me, it looks like “Browser may be just the Experience Platform of the future”
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