Google Chrome

Oveheard - Google Chrome is out of Beta

It’s not too often Google shocks people these days, but declaring its Chrome browser a finished, 1.0 product after only four months was sure one of those moments. Google, the land of the perpetual beta (five years and counting for GMail, three years for Docs), declared the bits golden code after 100 days of public consumption. Andy Patrizio, Does Google’s Chrome Need More Polish?

Google may or may not have a secret operating system project in the works, one that mimics the interface of the Android operating system for mobile phones, but for PCs. If it does, it would fit with Google’s revised mission statement for Chrome, “to build a browser to give users a better experience of the Web.”

Overheard: Google Chrome and the principle of least privilege

The most important reason for limiting the security privileges your code requires to run is to reduce the damage that can occur should your code be exploited by a malicious user. G Andrew Duthie, The Importance of the Principle of Least Privilege

Google Chrome uses the principle of least privilege. Each tab in Chrome is sandboxed (isolated) to prevent malware from installing itself or allowing what happens in one tab to affect what happens in another.

Overheard: Chrome is a do-over

In the coming era of cloud computing, the Web will be much more than just a means of delivering content — it will be a platform in its own right. Steven Levy, Inside Chrome: The Secret Project to Crush IE and Remake the Web

I highly recommend Steven Levy’s article on Chrome. He provides a good overview of the project’s cultural and technical background. It was only a matter of time until someone had to re-invent the browser from the ground up. (After all, how many plug-ins can one piece of software have?) It was nice to learn that there was some concern over at Google about Chrome’s affect on Firefox – and that Chrome will remain open source.

And if you wondered where the name came from, here you go:

A less weighty issue was what to dub the product. After considering some ridiculous codenames (Upson says they were so awful that he took the un-Googly step of a top-down veto), the project borrowed its moniker from the term used to describe the frame, toolbars, and menus bordering a browser window: chrome.

Overheard: Chrome is the foundation for a cloud OS

Chrome is effectively a Cloud Operating Environment in the same way that early releases of Windows were GUIs for DOS. All we need to do now is load it on to a free operating system like Linux and wire it up to cloud storage (a la Mozilla Weave for preferences and user files) and we have a full blown Cloud Operating System! Sam Johnston, Google Chrome