Google's Chrome Browser

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Google Chrome may come pre installed on Computers

Google is already working on Chrome’s Mac and Linux version, now it may come with pre installation with Windows XP, Windows Vista and all other Operating systems.

Google launched its beta version on 2 September 2008, I downloaded it very next day, I tested it, Liked it..The speed is good like a fast lightning. But it lacked some of the features which made me to stick to my Current Browser i.e. Mozilla Firefox. But things changed, after three months of its release, Google has removed the beta tag from Google Chrome.

With the final version released, it seems that Google will seriously consider setting up deals with OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) which will see the Chrome browser pre-installed on new computers. This, of course, is how Microsoft’s Internet Explorer became the most popular Web browser.

Sundar Pichai, Google Vice President, Product Management, told The Times of London:

“We could work with an OEM and have them ship computers with Chrome pre-installed. We will throw our weight behind it. We’ve been conservative because it’s still in beta, but once we get it out of beta we will work hard at getting the word out, promoting to users, and marketing will be a part of that.”

Google certainly needs something to help Chrome gain any traction in a market dominated by two big players. Internet Explorer currently enjoys a 71 % market share, while Firefox, and has near about a 20 %share of market share and chrome with less than 1% of market share.

Internet Explorer seems untouchable purely because people bizarrely seem to trust Microsoft and so stick with the browser that is pre-installed when they buy their computer. This is why it makes perfect sense for Google to copy that strategy. However, taking any market share from Firefox may be easier.

I read on Matt’s Blog …he stated that Google Chrome could be a strong competitor to Mozilla Firefox, chrome is lacking behind because of add-ons and extensions which Firefox has, this is the reason why users are still sticking to Firefox and stopping them to switch browser. Once the beta testing is done and dusted, and the most obvious bugs have been squashed underfoot, then Google could turn its attention to providing the same level of usability and interactivity that Mozilla currently does with Firefox

If the end of 2009 finds us with a stable and bug-free version of Chrome which is being pre-installed on new computers and can be used with Mac and Linux operating systems, then I think it has a chance. Google very rarely fails in its quest to move in to new markets, so I wouldn’t bet against Chrome making it big yet, despite it having a less-than-auspicious start.

Friday, December 12, 2008

RED HERRING AWARDS IYOGI FOR THE 2008 RED HERRING ASIA AMERICA 100

Award Recognizes the 100 “Most Promising” Asian Companies Driving the Future of Technology

Silicon Valley, CA, Dec 9th, 2008— Red Herring today announced that iYogi is a winner of the Red Herring 100 Award, a selection of the 100 most innovative private technology companies based in Asia.

iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is the first, global, technical support brand based out of India with more than 50,000 customers. The company offers consumers an unlimited, annual subscription service for $119.99 per desktop that includes support for a wide range of technologies, including PC hardware, Microsoft Products Support, Windows Operating systems,Computer Support ,Software applications, MP3 players, Networking devices, Digital camera, Printers and scanners etc.

The Red Herring editorial board diligently surveyed the entrepreneurial scene throughout Asia and identified the top 100 out of more than 1,000 closely evaluated companies that are leading the next wave of innovation.

“Our winners and Finalists demonstrate that Asia is increasingly becoming a leader in innovation, contrary to common stereotypes", said Joel Dreyfuss, editor-in-chief of Red Herring. " It was tough to choose just the top 100 finalists from such a large list of excellent contenders, and we are very happy with the quality of the companies we selected as finalists."

“We believe consumers and small business owners should have low-cost access to the highest quality support available on the planet", said Uday Challu, CEO of iYogi. “We are thrilled that our innovative approach to solving everyday technology problems for consumers and our managed services for small businesses has been recognized by Red Herring’s keen-eyed leadership. We are continuously innovating in adding new services that includes PC recovery, anti-virus, anti-spyware, data back-up and PC optimization in providing the best tech support experience for our customers”, adds Uday.

The 100 winning companies have been announced at the Red Herring Asia event in Hong Kong. The CEOs of the winning start ups presented their innovative ideas and technologies to an audience of leading entrepreneurs, financiers, and corporate strategists at the event at the Hong Kong, JW Marriott Hotel earlier this week.

About iYogi

iYogi is the first direct-to-consumer and small business technical support service from India. Providing an annual unlimited subscription to technical support, iYogi now boasts of more than 50,000 customers. The company employs 600 professionals servicing customers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and fast expanding to 12 new geographies across the globe. iYogi’s resolution rate of 87 percent and customer satisfaction rate of 93 percent are amongst the highest published benchmarks in the industry. For further information, please visit www.iyogi.net.

iYogi Contact

Vishal Dhar
President Marketing, iYogi Inc.
Phone: 212 229 0901
Email: vishal@iyogi.net

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Google Chrome is finally Out of beta

For years, Google’s Gmail has been in beta. And It has been just three months that Google made it official that Chrome is out of beta. But I want to ask a simple question….Where is Mac and Linux Version? And the answer is next year, may be in the first half of the year, but no assured date. Despite the word about the upcoming release of a Windows version, there's still no word on when a version of Google Chrome will be available for Mac or Linux.As for the Windows version, the reviews have mostly been favorable for chrome. As the Browser is good at speed and as Google claims that the speed is 1.4 faster than it was released 3 months ago. Users were complaining about the plug-ins and the performance of Google Chrome, And Google has fixed many of them.

A nice bonus feature is one that bundles all of the options that might impact a user’s privacy in one common place. Basically, if there’s a feature in Chrome that involves accessing or storing information that might identify you or something about you, it will be grouped with all of the other features that might have privacy implications so that users can find them easily and adjust the settings to their comfort levels. In a blog post, the company said:

“We’ve taken security very seriously from the beginning and we will continue to look for ways to make Google Chrome and all browsers even more secure. Google Chrome’s unique sandbox technology creates an additional layer of defense against harmful software, while the Safe Browsing feature provides protection against phishing and malware attacks for many browser users.”

Just because the beta label has been removed doesn’t mean the updates are finished. The team says that work continues on other features and enhancements such as form autofill and RSS feeds, which are in the works. From here on out, the updates will pretty much come as they’re ready. Unlike Microsoft, which usually makes its upgrades and changes in a broad-swoop version update, Google tends to simply make the update whenever it’s ready to go live.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Firefox is leading the Browser Market

I was going through Matt Cutts blog….few days back … he has written a post about Browser market. Honestly speaking I was not at all surprised to know that Firefox was leading the market. Personally I like Firefox… and who will not like a browser which has more than 300 add ons and extensions. I have downloaded many of them and they are wonderful. Like one of them is of colorful tabs, it will highlight the tab in which you are working and there is one more that you can change between tabs through keyboard… I know that you can do that in other browsers as well… but what you can’t do is …you can’t switch between the last tab you used and the one you are working on. When you press ctrl + tab, it will take you to the next tab which you have opened, but after installing that add-on, you can switch between the last tab you used and the one you are using currently. This add on is really helpful for the people like me, who open so many tabs in one window.

I felt bad for Internet Explorer it’s losing its market day by day… there was a time, when people only used Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has 26.07% of market share. Safari is doing well with 6.48%. And Google Chrome is new market. I was wondering, Google knew well about the market and users…Google knew that browsers are so advanced with so many extensions and add ons, but still it launched Google with not much advanced features. What really amazed me is …still Camino is used in the market??

Following is the market share of Browsers >

Firefox 57.58%

IE 26.07%

Safari 6.48%

Chrome 5.11%

Opera 2.35%

Mozilla 1.44%

SeaMonkey 0.48%

Mozilla Compatible 0.18%

Konqueror 0.13%

Camino 0.04%

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Google Chrome and its Missing Add-ons

The reason of Google’s low market share is missing add-ons and extensions. No doubt Chrome browser is a fast Browser. But since its launch, it has lacked add-ons and extensions that provide additional functionality -- one of the key features found in Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla has the highest market share in the market. Mozilla is loaded with extensions and add-ons.

Few days back, Google launched its bookmark manager, hmm… I think finally Google has realized that to get position in the market , it has to launch add-ons and Extensions for the user who are already using Mozilla’s Firefox and its add-ons.

Today, Google Chrome still doesn't have extensions, but Google developers now have a design document that signals the start of a roadmap leading to extensions.

And it's taking a different approach from Mozilla. Firefox 3.x has made great strides in improving how its extensions are more secured, and Mozilla continues to expand that effort. Chrome's developers, however are trying to start with a secure mechanism for obtaining and updating extensions from day one.

Initially, SSL, signed extensions and a central repository for auto-updates and validation all appear to be part of the plan. Also included are

"We will provide a service designed to reduce burden to developers by reducing traffic costs and providing a robust, secure mechanism for auto-updates that they can easily leverage rather than having to handle the logistics on their own site," Chrome's developers wrote in the document. "It would also provide authors with a way to easily create and verify their extension packages and manifests."

"However, developers will always have the option to package, sign, and host extensions on their own site," they added.

The approach also entails a blacklist of known malicious or harmful add-ons, which will be disabled by the browser. The blacklist will be maintained by Chrome's central service, according to the document.

Despite the additional steps to simplify and layer more security on the process of rolling out extensions, the news still indicates the lack of a cross-browser standard API set for add-ons/extensions, which could enable build-once, deploy-everywhere scenarios.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Google reveals Chrome extensions plan

Google has published its plan to build into Chrome what is arguably its most requested feature: the ability to accept extensions that can customize how the open-source Web browser operates.

And guess what? Google's dependence on advertising notwithstanding, one of the extension examples the company points to is the ability to block advertisements.

The Chrome extensions document, spotlighted Saturday by Google programmer Aaron Boodman, doesn't include a timeline, but it does shed light on why the project is a priority for Chromium, the open-source project behind Chrome.

"Chromium can't be everything to all people," according to the document. "User-created extensions have been proposed to solve these problems: the addition of features that have specific or limited appeal; users coming from other browsers who are used to certain extensions that they can't live without; bundling partners who would like to add features to Chromium specific to their bundle."

When Google launched Chrome three months ago, it promised a Chrome extensions framework. Extensions are a popular feature of Chrome's most likely rival, Mozilla's Firefox, and one very popular extension is AdBlock Plus.

And AdBlock makes a specific appearance on the list of extension uses that Google said it would like to support eventually:

• Bookmarking/navigation tools: Delicious Toolbar, StumbleUpon, Web-based history, new tab page clipboard accelerators.

• Content enhancements: Skype extension (clickable phone numbers), RealPlayer extension (save video), Autolink (generic microformat data--addresses, phone numbers, etc.)

• Content filtering: AdBlock, Flashblock, privacy control, parental control

• Download helpers: video helpers, download accelerators, DownThemAll, FlashGot

• Features: ForecastFox, FoxyTunes, Web of Trust, GooglePreview, BugMeNot

Demand for extensions is real.

source - download