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The Chrome Revolution

Software Development | September 3, 2008

The web is a buzz with the release of Google's web browser - Chrome. Although there are already a multitude of reviews out there I thought I'd offer my 2 cents as this release is a pivotal moment for the history of the web.

The decision for Google to build and release their own browser is extremely clever. By making it open source makes it even more clever. Google is pushing an ideology more than just a product and they are doing it in style.

The product itself is secondary. Google is making operating systems, like Windows, redundant. The ideology that is being pushed is that the web is the ultimate environment for applications. This happens to be Microsoft's worst nightmare as they have failed to capture this market and are losing their dominance in the tech industry. This dominance has been seen as a blight on the innovation of computer science and many are happy to see the technology giant stumbling to maintain control.

This process may just be the handing over of the torch and creating a new giant that everyone will soon despise but, some credit has to be given to Google by the way they understand the technology markets and the way they can control them by offering so much freedom. The freedom presents so much opportunity and in the age of opportunism, people know a good thing when they see it.

The open source pitch is reaching a crescendo in the software world and it was mentioned repeatedly during the Chrome announcement. Google wants the other players to takes parts from their browser and forward the benefits on to help make the web a better experience and help the web become the home to the majority of application development. This is their goal and ideology. With it they can offer the world a slice of the pie. It's hard to see how this dream could be stopped.