After some years of rumors of a Google browser, the kings of search and all things web-related have finally unveiled the WebKit-based Google Chrome. Google says their main focus has been on security, speed and stability – that is, pretty much the same as every other browser maker!

But Chrome does seem to have a unique take on some things. For instance, all tabs run in their own process so if one tab crashes, the rest of your browser session lives on. Similarly, if a plug-in on a page you are browsing decides to kick the bucket, the rest of the page is still browsable. Just the way it should be. Google have also started from scratch with JavaScript, creating their own virtual machine that’s supposed to be smarter and faster than the rest. How this holds up in practice remains to be seen.

Developers, developers, developers, developers!
What does this release mean for the web, and to web developers? As mentioned, Chrome is based on WebKit, the same rendering engine as Apple’s Safari. Theoretically this makes them ”layout and layout bug compatible”, making web pages look the same on both browsers (even though web browsers these day behave pretty much the same, most of them adhering to most of the standards, each rendering engine still has their own quirks and bugs). This might be considered good news for developers (like us) who don’t have to check their pages in yet another browser. In practice, though, both companies (Apple and Google) are likely to have modified parts of the code separately, fixing bugs the other company hasn’t yet integrated into their code. So just to make sure, you’d better test your pages in this new browser as well.

Chrome features built-in support for Google Gears, Googles API for rich web applications. For other browsers, Gears must be installed as an extension in order for applications built on this framework to function. Since your sites shouldn’t rely on extensions being installed, this means it will still take a while before you can build public sites based on Gears. (Our hopes are instead set on HTML5 being released soon, solving some of the same problems as Gears. Sadly, this still seems like years away).

Finally, any improvements in JavaScript technology is good for the web. Web applications are become more common, and any speed improvements to these applications are more than welcome. Googles V8 JavaScript engine is open-source, so any smart ideas are free to be implemented by other browser makers as well.

Will Google control the web?
Google has got many worried by their growth. Search, advertising, hosting, office applications, hardware, etc, are just some areas of the web that the collective hive-mind of the Googleplex has been set on dominating. For the good of the world, of course. The browser could be seen as the last step that has kept Google from totally controlling the web, since the browser is the lowest common denominator among web users. Having a lot of different browsers surfing the web means that browser makes must co-operate to create standards, and having more organizations involved in creating standards is generally a good thing. If the Google Chrome browser becomes too popular, it would give Google more power to set the standards for the web. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it probably isn’t good either.

But, given that Chrome usage stays ”average”, it’s actually good for the web in the long run – the more browsers that compete, the bigger the need for standards among browsers. This is good for developers, and this is good for the user.