This morning I was reading more about the rumors that are circulating about the Google browser.
It's apparent that Google doesn't want to think of itself as just a search engine company, and the addition of GMail and Google Desktop Search to their repertoire certainly shows that. However I cannot but help wondering if Google has bitten off more than it can chew.
Google has always been known to have produced a good reliable search
engine, which 9 out of 10 Internet users use and love. I personally
don't use GMail, but from the number of invites floating around I
understand that GMail must be a desirable service, and the desktop
search engine is in strong competition with Microsoft and Yahoo. As far as browser wars go, surely we have enough choices with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, without adding another contender to the mix?
None of the browser development teams can agree on a standard for
CSS or JavaScript, and as a result cross-browser development can be
frustrating. Is Google going to revolutionize the users browsing
experience enough to turn the heads of existing IE and Mozilla users so
that we can do away with cross-browser development? Hardly.
News of Ben Goodger's move from the Mozilla Foundation
to Google has sparked a lot of interest in the blogsphere. Many believe
that Ben will be working on Google's new browser, and I have to
admit, his move seems much less coincidental and more strategic.
Google is already a brand name on the Internet scene, my
Mom - not so computer literate, knows of the large organization based
out in California. Are Google to be the next Microsoft, who currently
dominate the software market? Jason Kottke believes Google will be serving a large pace of future software pie and is convinced that Google will be working on their own operating system in time.
I'm sure that Google will rise to occasion and announce that the
rumors of a "gBrowser" are true shorty. I'm waiting with skeptical
curiosity to see how the story pans out.