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Google Chrome - Random Thoughts Part Deux

More random thoughts...

Fellow RDs Scott Howlett and Derek Hatchard pointed out this in the page where Google explains why they built a browser:

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We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.
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Can't be clearer then that!

Also, being open source, this means that at some point, all the browsers based on WebKit/Mozilla will also incorporate the V8 engine.

6 Comments

  • My first impression is that Chrome serves the purpose as a Web desktop very well. I like the barebones design for that. The JavaScript engine certainly seems nimble.

    The issue to me is whether it will support Silverlight 2. Is Google going in its own direction with only JavaScript apps or is it open to other rich interfaces such as Flash and Silverlight?

    Ken

  • "Also, being open source, this means that at some point, all the browsers based on WebKit/Mozilla will also incorporate the V8 engine."

    Is this a joke?

    "Is Google going in its own direction with only JavaScript apps or is it open to other rich interfaces such as Flash and Silverlight?"

    The Flash plugin works fine with Chrome. Silverlight support has nothing to do with Google, it's a Microsoft issue.

  • "will also incorporate the V8 engine"

    I should have written "could also incorporate the V8 engine"

  • Or Mozilla could make a JIT Javascript compiler, call it TraceMonkey and integrate to firefox... oh wait.. already done.

    TraceMonkey performs better than V8, under the SunSpider suite of benchmark and many other things. V8 performs better in a couple of places ... so really Mozilla has no need to take V8.

  • I think Google Chrome should not support Silverlight. That is what Microsoft did in the past by not following the standards in non-standard IE. This is the only way to teach Microsoft how to make best/stable products. Only Google engineers can teach it.

  • If Google Chrome has any hope of succeeding, it had better support Silverlight. All Microsoft hating aside, the fact is that Silverlight is out there, being used, freely available to download, use, and develop for... being able to program against the .NET CLR is very tempting for many developers. (I myself am waiting for Silverlight RTM.)

    The truth is that most users will see this as a fault of Google Chrome. Why does it work in IE/FireFox but not Google Chrome?

    Or look at it this way: Say users have to use two browsers, Google Chrome for surfing and Internet Explorer or Firefox for Silverlight content they may run across, do you really think that they will continue to use Google Chrome? Why not just stay in another browser where everything works?

    Yes, Silverlight content is extremely low right now. But the fact is that it is out there, backed by Microsoft, and has growing developer support.

    And I'm not 100% convinced the fault is entirely in Microsoft's camp on this one. Adobe Flash works perfectly. The Silverlight I've seen requires taking focus away from and back to Google Chrome in order for the screen to update. It is possible that Microsoft is doing something non-compliant that Adobe is not. Although, here's a though: I would bet anything that if the same issue happened with Flash, Google Chrome's team would have made efforts to fix it before relase.

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