Google Browser May Become Reality
There has been much fanfare in the Mozilla fan camps about the possibility of Google using Mozilla browser technology to produce a GBrowser - the Google Browser. Over the past two weeks, the news and speculation has escalated to the point where even Google itself is acknowledging the whispers among the tech community by featuring a section on Google News devoted to the browser mill.
Google browser news is not only restricted to search and technology sites either, the BBC released a piece summarizing all of the hoopla over Google’s browser (Google even owns the GBrowser.com domain name) after the New York Post reported an exodus of high profile tech monsters from the grasps of Microsoft, into the arms of Google. The newest Google employees are four people who worked on Internet Explorer (one being Adam Bosworth), another one from Java lead developers (Joshua Bloch) and another guy (Joe Beda) who was working on future Microsoft technologies like Avalon and Longhorn.
Google could not have picked a better time to be planning a new browser tool (that is, if they are). Security flaws and adware/spyware attacks have fueled a small but significant switch from Microsoft IE to Mozilla based browsers. WebSideStory reported that Microsoft’s share of browser users who visited top e-commerce and corporate sites shrank from 95.6% in June to 93.7% in September. Further more the tracking firm’s study showed that people using browsers made by Mozilla grew from 3.5% to 5.2%.
Besides the GBrowser.com name, the recent hirings, and the acceptance of Mozilla and other browsers by the general public, the real sticking point to the browser rumors could be that Google recently hosted Mozilla Development Day, Motley Fool reports:
To back up that idea, note that the company held a Mozilla Development Day on its campus, where programmers spent the day improving the renamed Netscape browser. The theory goes that building a new browser from the ground up might be unproductive, while adding to an already existing platform — the open-source Mozilla, for example — would be a huge kick-start.
With Google’s success with GMail, AdWords and Adsense, it seems that anything they touch turns into a huge success. However, browsers are a different breed and unless they go with an existing web rendering engine (our prediction is Gecko), it would be tough thing to do. Starting from scratch to develop a browser won’t be cakewalk even for Google.
Comments
13 responses so far ↓
Bman on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:09 am
Great - I’d LOVE a browser that will probably promote advertisements based on the web sites that I surf. Afraid of Adaware/Spyware? Get ready for a browser that will be just that.
John on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:20 am
Modzilla isn’t that good. I installed and i think its cr*p. ‘Bookmarking’ is awful compared IE and loading sites is slower compare to IE. To stay on topic, I hope gbrowser is no mozilla.
jimmy on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:29 am
Oh yea sounds great hey google who spys on your e-mail scans your text now will spy on your surfing habits please give me a break!
rndmprsn on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:37 am
i love the mozilla browser, have been using it for about 4 months now and haven’t looked back…you can really customize it to your liking, tabbed browsing is FAR superior to IE IMO…and as far as browser speed, i think it actually has the edge over IE.
but the thought of google integrating it with ads etc is troubling.
aqkacheshire on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:45 am
googles the best!a browser??ya baby..!why not?\what do we have to lose or gain???plenty.the best idea ive heard in a long time.got my vote google.always.comon to my house,comon to my house im gonna give you everything[like the song goes!]and i get it.google delivers.yes,!
akacheshire.julea on Sep 23, 2004 at 9:48 am
i said it once il say it again![since my name and url was wrong!]google you rock!il be waitin.see ya akacheshire
D Cutter on Sep 23, 2004 at 12:15 pm
I have been using Mozilla Firefox for six months & I love it. My IE had been hijacked by sneaky websites & annoying spyware several times & I had ENOUGH!
Tabbed browsing rocks & hijack-free surfing is great!
MyIE2/Maxthon is excellent, but it’s a shell enhancement that uses IE…So it’s flawed & still vulnerable.
Opera is very good, but the free version has ads.
After winning the “browser war”, MS neglected IE for years & now it’s the worse browser around.
I look fwd to seeing GBrowser.
mkremin on Sep 23, 2004 at 1:27 pm
Mozilla is good, and the latest release seems faster than IE. But why make yet another browser? If Google wants to enhance Mozilla, so be it, but I smell all kinds of invasion into my surfing and hard drives with these initiatives. And web advertising - this needs to follow the trend in broadcast TV…TiVo (skip) the ads whenever possible or offer paid video on demand. Advertisers need to wake up and tell great stories. The BMW short films, and some of Motorola’s shorts are examples of quality ads and what we need. Not more pop-ups or “placed” sponsors on every page.
Greg on Sep 24, 2004 at 7:31 am
I Don’t mind the ad on the web page. I don’t like pop-ups. However, I don’t like being tracked. The google browser will fail. Main reason is because of firefox. Not because of any spyware or privacy concern
dan on Sep 24, 2004 at 9:45 am
Google did a great job with search. I’m definitely interested in seeing what they can do with other products, including email and a browser. D
SorrowMan - Dark Sad Poems on Sep 26, 2004 at 5:32 pm
I do not see reason for gBrowser when there’s already FireFox (and Opera), but if Google will make it there will be users for it. Will be interesting to see how things go :)
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