Google Chrome - a new web browser

Google has confirmed rumours by announcing it will release its own web browser - Google Chrome [link not yet active]. Chrome is built around the open-source Webkit browser engine (as is Apple's Safari browser) and will include a new fast Javascript engine and Google's offline 'Gears' tool.

Google's aim is clearly to get some control of how people access web-based services such as Google Mail and Google Apps - which are a core part of Google's strategy for world domination. Currently over 90% of web users are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser - giving Microsoft the opportunity to divert users to Microsoft's web services or to make them work better than Google's. 

But first Google has to gain market share in a desktop application - something it hasn't done before...

Conosco's IT support service recommends Internet Explorer on Windows or Safari on Mac OS X until Chrome has proven itself.