Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Networking
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Browser rivals confident they can compete with Google

Microsoft sure users will pick IE8; Opera, Mozilla undeterred

September 2, 2008 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Browser makers Microsoft Corp., Mozilla Corp. and Opera Software ASA today reacted to news that Google Inc. is introducing a browser of its own, saying that they welcome the competition and are not afraid of the search giant's move.

"We're not worried about Google as a competitor," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Norwegian browser developer Opera. "Competition keeps everyone on their toes, and so that's positive."

Microsoft, also alluding to the new competition, sounded confident as well. Although the company declined to make a member of its Internet Explorer team available for comment, it issued a statement attributed to Dean Hachamovitch, IE's general manager. "The browser landscape is highly competitive, but people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips," Hachamovitch was quoted as saying.

Mozilla CEO John Lilly didn't publicly hit the panic button, either.

In a post to his personal blog this morning, Lilly acknowledged Google's entry into the browser business, saying he isn't surprised that the search company had made a move. "Their business is the Web, and they've got clear opinions on how things should be," Lilly said.

Later in his post, Lilly expressed confidence in Firefox's continued growth. "Even in a more competitive environment than ever, I'm very optimistic about the future of Mozilla and the future of the open Web," he said. "We've got a truckload of great stuff queued up for Firefox 3.1 and beyond -- things like open video and an amazing next-generation JavaScript engine, to name a couple."

Among the features that Google has touted in its still-in-beta browser, dubbed "Chrome," is a new JavaScript interpreter called "V8" that it said came out of its Danish research group.

Other pieces of Chrome, said von Tetzchner, look suspiciously like features first unveiled in Opera. "It looks like they're kind of learning a few things from us," he said, pointing to a multipage thumbnail display and the way Chrome positions tabs at the top of the browser window rather than under the address bar, as rivals do. The first, said von Tetzchner, resembles Opera's Speed Dial feature, while the latter is "something we've been doing for years. So they've taken a few ideas from us. But I would prefer that we innovate and others follow us rather than the other way around."

Lilly struck that chord as well in his reaction to Google's entry. "With IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc., there's been competition for a while now, and this increases that," said Lilly. "So it means that more than ever, we need to build software that people care about and love. Firefox is good now, and will keep on getting better."

Apple Inc., which distributes Mac OS X and Windows versions of its Safari -- which is built atop the same open-source WebKit rendering engine that Google chose for Chrome -- did not respond to a request for comment on Google's push into the browser market

Google posted a Windows XP and Vista version of Chrome to its Web site today shortly before 3 p.m. Eastern time. Mac OS X and Linux editions are planned, but the company has not shared ship dates for those betas.

Read more about internet applications in Computerworld's Internet Applications Knowledge Center.



Jump to comments

Google

Additional Resources

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know
WHITE PAPER
Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.
Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009
WHITE PAPER
The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.
Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing
WHITE PAPER
Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

Moving Beyond Monolithic White Paper
What's next for enterprise application architecture? Learn Now.  

The Workday User Experience Video
Watch Workday's Creative Director, Scott Lietzke, discuss the business-centered design philosophy at Workday.

The ROI of Software-As-A-Service - Forrester Research
Learn if SaaS has a long-term value. Read now.  

Virtualize Microsoft Applications on VMware
Register for this live webcast now!

Global at the Core White Paper
Learn the business and technology benefits of Workday's global approach to enterprise applications.  

The Workday User Interface White Paper
Read how Workday re-invents the user experience in enterprise applications.  

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

Measurement Specialties
Download this case study!  

Preparing Your Business Services for the Future
Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service?

Disaster Recovery & Cost Savings Zone
Thousands of customers world-wide have turned to virtualization solutions from Riverbed as a way to reduce costs.



IT Jobs