The only substantive story so far here is how they've botched this launch. The site was launched, then taken down a few hours later, with only a generic 404 up at the moment - www.google.com/chrome. And although I wasn't cool enough to get one, apparently they mailed, in print form, comic books promoting the launch. http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-01-n47.html. This was planned for weeks in advance - something went wrong.
Claiming a new era of browsers is a long stretch given this one has zero market share, and the need for everyone to continue developing for IE and Firefox - the impact of an amazing new browser is always muted by its lack of standard status. It's a long slow road to gaining market share - even Firefox, launching against a very vulnerable IE 6 in 2004, took about two years to earn 12% share (And current stands at about 19%, according to Marketshare.com - http://tinyurl.com/5selqw). And I'd bet much of Google's browser share growth will come at Firefox's expense, not IE. Happy to see more entrants in the field and I'd love to get my hands on this, but we're talking about vaporware at the moment, like reviewing a move before its in the theaters. Seems best to wait and see. And its always curious how little attention Opera (www.opera.com) gets, as they've been the most innovative and adventurous browser company for years. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mark Canlas Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 7:25 AM To: Alex Jones Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] A New Browser: Google Chrome I'm surprised there hasn't been any discussion on this. Based on the material I've read so far, this could be the coming of a new era for browsers. I hate to toss around the idea of something being the breaking point or next gen, but I'm really sold on this idea. If this is properly executed, it could bring performance back the number one factor in application design. I've always held this tenet that UI responsiveness affects how the user feels about a given application the most out of any other factor. And most UI speed problems can be tied to performance. If Google can deliver the performance gains they're talking about, the Web could evolve into a platform for first class applications. My predictions for Chrome... The initial release will probably suck. A lot. And there will be a lot of chatter in the blogosphere. People breaking it apart, looking at the source, planning distros, finding bugs, nay-saying it... But if it gets re-released continually, with incremental upgrades and optimizations, I would go so far as to say that I could Firefox Firefox, or supplant Firefox the way Firefox did to IE. A lot of products and their visionaries have had similar claims and come up way, way short, but Google has a pretty nice track record of making useful enough apps that make people pay attention (search, maps, mail). They're large enough and smart enough to really mean it and follow through with it. It's a pretty exciting time. -Mark On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 10:35 AM, Alex Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Google plans to release a new browser soon, based on Webkit, but with > a new JavaScript engine, which is expected to be significantly faster > than most browsers. While there are a lot of questions about it and > some interesting discussion points, I am curious to see how, or if it > changes the way we design and develop Web apps. It will also be > interesting to see how they design the interface and flows within the > browser, having stated that one major goal is to streamline and > simplify the UI. The beta Windows version is to be released today, with Mac and Linux versions coming soon. > > Their announcement post: > http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html > > An introduction to the browser in comic book form: > http://books.google.com/books?id=8UsqHohwwVYC&printsec=frontcover > > Cheers, > > Alex S. Jones | User Experience Manager > _________________________________ Pluck / Demand Media > Direct: 512.519.3204 > 200 Academy Dr., Ste. 120 > Austin, TX 78704 > www.pluck.com<BLOCKED::http://www.pluck.com> > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe > ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines > ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help > .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
