p2pnet news view Advertising | Products:- Google has substantially upped the ante in its challenge to Microsoft as ruler of all it surveys.

Like Microsoft it has: a philanthropic arm (via Bill and Melinda) to show at heart, it’s a deeply caring entity; apparently limitless  financial and legal resources; a political unit (Bill doesn’t need one – he goes f2f with world leaders); the beginnings of a Google branded Internet; control of the medical records of millions of people; and so on and etc.

But until yesterday, it didn’t have its very own browser. Officially, that is.

“Based on the half-dozen hires in recent weeks, Google appears to be planning to launch its own Web browser and other software products to challenge Microsoft,” p2pnet posted in 2004, quoting the New York Post

“Google has wooed Joshua Bloch, one of the main developers of the Internet programming language Java, from Sun Microsystems,” the story said.

“The company also hired four people who worked on Microsoft’s Web browser, Internet Explorer, and later founded their own company. One of them, Adam Bosworth, is credited with being a driving force not only behind IE, but Microsoft’s database-management program, Access.”

Then along came Google Secure Access, a downloadable client application greatly to supposedly help users to establish a more secure WiFi connection.

But Inside Google, “begs to differ,” p2pnet said. “Google wants another crack at your entire internet traffic through the Google Secure Access client.”

While, “this may be a legitimate attempt by a single engineer to secure data,” routing massive net traffic through Google`s servers, “is a huge financial undertaking,” said Inside Google. “And in any situation, you must always follow the money. Since the program and service is free the only conclusion is that Google is trying, once again, to get its hands on all of your internet traffic for data collection purposes.

“Google tried pulling the same thing with Web Accelerator, and the net freaked out. Ultimately, Web Accelerator was pulled. Google Secure Access has the same benefits for Google as Web Accelerator did, with fewer of the things that scared away people the first time.

“I have to believe that there are at least some higher ups at Google who have the goal of expanding Google by collecting massive amounts of data on the web browsing habits of the public. The goal: Install a small program on a decent number of computers (not many, but a varied group), close the beta when you have your test group, and enjoy the data. Repeat when the test group shrinks.”

Then in December, 2006, “The corporate browser wars have just gone up a strange new notch,” said p2pnet »»»

 Google is going head-to-head with Bill and the Boyz with a Google-ized version of Microsoft`s Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) browser with Google, not Windows Live Search, as the default search engine.

Not only but also, it`s downloaded from a Google, not Microsoft, site and, downloaders promise to abide by Google, not Microsoft, ‘Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy’.

Now, enter Google Chrome which is, of course, nothing to do with Mozilla’s Chrome.

Instead, today is the day Google officially launches a beta of its open source Chrome in 100 countries, it boasts on its blog.

And Yes, there’s a comic book, although apparently, it was released  a little early.

‘This is just the beginning’

“On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple,” says Google.

“To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff — the pages, sites and applications that make up the web.”

And Google advertisements.

“This is just the beginning,” warn (oops, promise) Sundar Pichai, VP product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director, because, “Chrome is far from done.”

Indeed not.

Mac and Linux mustn’t be overlooked.

Admits Google:

“We’ve used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others — and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.”

Actually, the direction would be backward, right into Google’s waiting arms.

Meanwhile, “The decision by Google to create its browser also reflects a persistent concern on the part of the internet company that Microsoft would find ways to use its dominance of the PC software to favour its own internet applications, or at least hamper those of rivals,” says the Financial Times, adding:

“Microsoft last week released a version of IE that makes it easier for users to block information about their browsing habits, a move that could hamper Google’s move into display advertising.

“Microsoft’s near-monopoly of the browser market has been broken in recent years by Firefox, an open-source browser based on code developed by Netscape that has won nearly 20 per cent of the market. Google has maintained close ties with Mozilla, the organisation behind Netscape.”

p2pnet – Mozilla-based Google browser, September 23, 2004
New York Post – Google Picks Gates` Brains, September 19, 2004
p2pnet – Google Secure Access, September 21, 2005
p2pnet – Google Explorer 7, December 16, 2006
Financial Times – Google challenges Microsoft with internet browser launch, September 2, 2008

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Advertising, Product News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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