Yesterday, Google released details of its web browser project: Google Chrome. Rather than the usual press release, Google sent out a Comic Book by artist Scott McCloud, featuring Google staff explaining the features and development of the web browser. Google Chrome is an open source project: built using Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox rendering engines, and includes a brand new Javascript engine and Google Gears. Further details were published at the Official Google Blog, revealing the BETA version of the browser would be available today. First impressions: Google Chrome's default homepage neatly presents you with thumbnails of your most visited / bookmarked web pages, along with a list of your most recently closed pages. The interface is minimalistic and the handling of tabs for browsing multiple sites is very slick. It is fast, even when simultaneously loading multiple pages. We're surprised it does not display image ALT text. And, you should note that the browser collects usage data and sends it back to Google, but it is easy to turn this off: go to Options > Under The Bonnet and untick the box. It's going to be interesting to see how Chrome develops and how much of an impact Google's browser will have on the usage statistics of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc... (See FREE Google Software for more downloads)
Video: The story behind Google Chrome * Google Chrome announcement
