Google's surprise
launch of its first web browser will increase competition, but
is unlikely to pose any real threat to any of the established
players.
Google claims that
Chrome
is more stable and secure, faster and easier to use than existing
products.
Google's positioning suggests the new browser is specifically
aimed at
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), which has been criticised
for weaknesses in these areas in the past.
IE's failings have helped open source
Firefox gain market share, but IE still has strong support and
is unlikely to lose that simply because there is another open
source alternative available.
Firefox itself is being named as another potential casualty.
Open source supporters are critical of Google for threatening
Firefox's position by fragmenting the market.
David Mitchell, senior vice-president of IT Research at Ovum,
says the criticisms levelled against Google are reminiscent of the
way Sun Microsystems was criticised for open sourcing its Solaris
operating system.
Some people feel Google should have supported Firefox against IE
just as they felt Sun should have supported Linux against Windows,
he says.
"This is a bogus argument, because there is enough space for
more competition."
Chrome, therefore, is unlikely to spark any browser wars any
time soon as predicted by some, particularly as it is still "far
from done" by Google's own admission.
However, it does mean an immediate increase in choice, which
always means a better end result for users.
It will be only a matter of time before Chrome leads to
innovation in IE, Firefox,
Safari and
Opera as it begins to chip away at each one's share of the
market.