Google new browser, Chrome, is the talk of the day. And the comics are indeed great.
Some were enthusiastic about Google opening this vast project as an open source. Noble indeed. Google themselves are feeling virtuous about it, or at least want us to feel that way. After all, a great tool like this (no one really seen it yet, but they do know how to create a buzz and I guess it will be indeed a good browser) – by releasing this great, superb, new-era browser as an open source, anyone can take it and adapt it to his needs, even Microsoft can, and maybe will even do.
So why did they do it? Why to open source? You can give it for free without opening it...
Slide 37 lists the noble arguments.
But could they really?
Do they have the option the ship a proprietary browser?
NO, because they don’t have one.
This new Chrome browser is said to be built upon WebKit and Mozilla projects. Both projects are open sourced and require derived work to be open as well (section 3.2 in Mozilla Public License and 2 of the LGPL).
They could have find a way to keep some of the code closed, like maybe the V8 javascript VM. But it would probably be too risky legally. And they might need their lawyers ready for Android issues (or for buying Sun).
Bottom line:
No need to be too cocky about open sourcing. As nice as it is that you open it, you probably had no other choice, other open source initiatives worked hard on writing parts of your code.
3 comments:
You are probably right about this, there are probably some technical reasons for this decision. Another possible reason, is the intention to create an ecosystem around it, which could also be useful.
However, I do not really understand why would Google create a browser, especially based on some other engine. What are the benefits of this move? I am sure there are some strategic reasons for this, would be nice to investigate what they are
You may ask similarly why Microsoft so eagerly invest in the browser domain (and with less and less success, as their market share is declining), including dealing with legal issues that it created to them. The reason is that the browser is a platform to get the user. It's your door to the web. Microsoft did a lame use of this door, MSN doesn't seem to fly. But google seem to do better in the web.
Now, with their own browser they can control more easily the browsing information and traffic. It's true that many already have the google toolbar, but Chrome would probably attach more people. Moreover, controlling the entire browser, not only a toolbar, may allow you to shove yourself to the foreground in the browser itself, e.g. in the User's Home Page.
I was really enthusiastic about this innovation and, of course, the way Google promote their ideas (Comic book - how could anyone missed it in the past). one of the thing that caught my eye was the "Process Per Tab" idea. now I can easily visit problematic sites (which is my favorite) and still be able to surf via the neighbor tabs.
To my disappointment, the future is still not here. After opening 5 tabs my computer was totally jammed. After opening the Task Manager, the picture became clear. Indeed, Chrome created a new process for each tab, but one of the processes took 99% of of my PC CPU. Of course not only did I fail to open other tabs, but I could do basically nothing with my PC. when I returned to the Task Manager to kill the 99% process - the Chrome application in its entirety was dead.
Perhaps, this is a rare situation that I stumbled by accident and perhaps this browser is still an unripe fruit.
I personally think that if after 5 minutes of usage the above occur, then the later is more likely to be the case.
I am sure this browser will, like "The Ugly Duckling" become the swan of browsers. I prefer to wait for the next version to find out.
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