Google's Chrome Polished and Ready for Download
Internet Explorer 8 hasn't even been released yet, and already Microsoft is facing stiffer competition in the browser market. Tuesday Google offered its web browser, Chrome, for download. Chrome's release has already been widely publicized, so I'll shorten reviewing its features and focus on its ultimate impact. Chrome is very similar to Firefox, but it also employs some of the better features from Opera, Safari, and IE as well. It's a free download, so visit www.google.com/chrome to give it a test run. What's much more interesting than its entry into the browser market is the possibility that eventually Chrome could challenge Windows as a new operating system.
A number of bloggers have dismissed the likelihood that Google's ultimate goal is to make Microsoft irrelevant. Others have decried Google's ubiquity and fear the company will take over the world (something I've done before). Without getting too technical, imagine what it would mean for businesses if they didn't need to purchase an operating system license. Now imagine what it would mean for consumers if their laptops and PC's didn't need all the hardware and software that would disappear in a Windows-free world. The bottom line is that it would be much cheaper to access the Internet.
What do you think of Chrome? Is it just another browser with the same features as IE and Firefox, or will it change the way people go online and make Windows a relic?
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