Analyst Says Google's Chrome Browser Needs Polishing

September 04 12:05:02 PM, Yahoo News

NewsFactor - Microsoft hasn't publicly commented on Google's new Chrome browser, but Redmond's Internet Explorer 8 team may wind up echoing Mozilla's makers: We're not worried.

Google launched Chrome on Tuesday with all the hype you might expect. Google said it created Chrome because the company believes it can add value for users and help drive innovation on the Web. But will Chrome really give IE8 and Firefox a run for their money?

"Competition often results in innovation of one sort or another -- in the browser you can see that this is true in spades this year, with huge JavaScript performance increases, security process advances, and user interface breakthroughs," Mozilla CEO John Lilly wrote in his company's blog. "I'd expect that to continue now that Google has thrown their hat in the ring."

Where's the Browser Beef?

Chrome uses components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others, and Google is making its code open source. The company said the browser is "clean and fast." Google also pointed to features like keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox" to prevent one tab from crashing another, and improved protection from rogue sites.

But for all the hype, Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Juptermedia, said Chrome is somewhat underwhelming for a first release. If it had come from anyone but Google, he added, this browser would not be gaining widespread media attention.

"The user interface is a little bit different. It's much more smartened. It comes down to whether you like things like a menu bar that lets you access options or not. Certain aspects of Chrome that Google talked about, like better speed and performance, were unnoticeable," Gartenberg said. "None of the Firefox add-ons work. It's interesting that one of the most prevalent add-ons, the Google Toolbar, is unavailable for Chrome just yet."

Purpose Isn't Clear

As Gartenberg sees it, the Chrome release begs the question, is this a solution in search of a problem? The long-term purpose isn't clear, he said, since consumers aren't complaining about slow browsers and tabs. And if you have to use a stopwatch to measure the difference between the speed of one browser over another, he added, it's probably not difference enough to matter to most consumers.

Google says the market needs a tool that's not just a browser, but a modern platform for Web pages and applications. But analysts aren't convinced that consumers want to run every application through the browser at this stage in the Internet's evolution.

"At the end of the day I am not seeing a whole lot of compelling new features that would necessarily convince the mass market that Chrome is something they need to download and install relative to what they are using, particularly when there's pretty good choices right now from Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla," Gartenberg said. "Google is an 800-pound gorilla, and when an 800-pound gorilla jumps in the pool, it tends to makes ripples. That's what we are seeing."

Source

Related articles

More Tech
back to top
News Buzz © 2007. About Us Politics | Entertainment | Business | Tech