Google announced the launch of Google Chrome ^[1] which is a web browser ^[2] that is supposed to add more value to and help drive innovation on the web. With Google Chrome web applications can be opened in chromeless windows, without menus and toolbars, much like in Mozilla Prism. The browser will also include Gears, a set of APIs already available for IE, Firefox and Safari.

Google has also included a comic book ^[3] where they describe the workings of Google Chrome.

Here are few details about Google Chrome as seen in Google Blogoscoped ^[4]:

• Google Chrome is Google’s open source browser project.
• The browser will include a JavaScript Virtual Machine called V8.
• Google Chrome will use special tabs.
• The browser has an address bar with auto-completion features, called ’omnibox’.
• As a default homepage Chrome presents you with a kind of “speed dial” feature, similar to the one of Opera.
• Chrome has a privacy mode; Google says you can create an “incognito” window “and nothing that occurs in that window is ever logged on your computer.”
• Web apps can be launched in their own browser window without address bar and toolbar.
• To fight malware and phishing attempts, Chrome is constantly downloading lists of harmful sites.

With the descriptions we have seen so far, Google Chrome looks like a mix of Firefox Prism and Opera with a better interface. Google Operating system also has a interesting article on Google Chrome ^[5].

Download Google Chrome ^[6].