Google's Open Source browser to challenge Microsoft

The spin

"We believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web," wrote Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management, in Google’s official blog.

"We realized that ... we needed to completely rethink the browser."

Google also released a comic book, designed by veteran comic book creator Scott McCloud, which features engineers and designers explaining Chrome’s features.
The comic book was accidentally released to Google watchers Google Blogoscoped, which broke news of the browser’s release early.

The competition

Microsoft remained confident that users would prefer IE8 to Google Chrome.
"The browser landscape is highly competitive," Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of the Internet Explorer group, told the New York Times.

"But people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips, respects their personal choices about how they want to browse and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online."

Microsoft released the Beta 2 version of its browser, Internet Explorer 8, on August 27. Between its various releases, Internet Explorer enjoys a market share of over 70 per cent, according to Net Applications.

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