So Google’s launching a new browser called Chrome. It’s based off WebKit which is Apple’s re-do of KHTML which is the HTML rendering engine created for Konqueror, the KDE browser.
If the post is to be believed, it promises to be extremely cool, especially for people with multiple CPUs. The sand-boxing and new javascript engine also sound like big improvements. Too bad it’s windows only for now and hopefully it won’t be one of the many “pay no attention to the evil behind the curtain” Google offerings. The fact that its open source, doesn’t mean that they’ll accept anything from the community, either. We’ll see, I guess.
I also wonder how well a new browser will fare. Opera’s had arguably the best browser out there for years, but no one really cares (including me) even now that it’s free. In one way I’m surprised at Safari’s success, but then it’s less surprising considering the “do what you’re told” mindset of the cult of mac. IIRC, there’s a windows version of Safari, but I don’t know of anyone who uses it nor how well it’s doing.
The competition will hopefully spur innovation and help the browser that I’ve come to like even if I don’t end up using Chrome.
I liked Opera some six years ago, I guess. It was the primary one I used. Gecko coaxed me off it with Netscape 6 and Phoenix (early Firefox).
Safari never impressed me on the Mac in the short time I used one. However, I only used it to check the work people were doing on web pages skilled and WYSWIGers alike.
Google made where all this goes a bit interesting.
I can’t believe I didn’t post the leaked comic that started it all.
The site is crushed, but it’s worth the wait — the comic is extremely well done.