Google Chrome - The Modern Browser for The Modern Web

Today is Labor Day and I promised my family that I would take the day off, but just can’t resist this story about Chrome. It’s a great conversation and an important project - The web needs a Modern Browser and it’s called Chrome.

I’m taking the day off but would love to hear from anyone about what a Modern Browser looks like?

Phil Lenssen has the story about the upcoming announcement.

Over on my personal opinion blog I talked about the implication of this being an operating system war. There I talk about this being an operating system war in full action. One between Microsoft and Google. Google is coming out with their own browser called Chrome. This browser is a direct maneuver to block Microsoft IE8 (and other msft moves) from cutting off Google’s ‘hooks’ in search and desktop environments.

Chrome - Beyond Search - Chrome goes beyond search. Google having a browser (Chrome) is strategic. It’s just one piece of the user environment (aka the edge software) that Google needs to own to have a fully functional operating system. By making Chrome open source Google sends a message to the army of software developers that the Google platform is worthy to develop ontop of. Also Google garners the support from a growing and rabid community of developers while deflect any policy and antitrust discussions.

From a platform perspective Chrome as an open source development project increases the range of edge devices that the software can be ported to. I am talking about Android both phone and set top box environments. Open sourcing the project is good for developers and if played right great for Google. We will see which company is friendlier to developers - meaning how does each platform vendor incorporate new developer technology.

Impact on Startups

I am very bullish on Chrome as a good thing to push competition and innovation. It will be a good thing for startups to leverage this massive platform shift. For startups it’s an opportunity if you can see the vision of these platforms then intersect a business or technology deal into it.

Good Luck Google and I hope to see startups and 3rd party technology in the platform. For me success will be judged by the user experience and the amount of 3rd party participation. Google will fail if they can’t build a developer ecosystem around their platform.