chukaman's blog
Why is Google Releasing a Browser? Updated Analysis: Google, in a blog post on its web site has acknowledged the existence of Google Chrome, a browser that the company will be releasing tomorrow. Kara Swisher has confirmed the existence of Google Chrome, a browser developed by the Mountain View, Calif.-based search company. The rumors of the browser were reported earlier on Google Blogoscoped, which received a comic book that outlined the key features of the browser. The company released: So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web. All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends — all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build. On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. 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. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.
Google says the browser is going to be in open source.
We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we’re committed to continuing on their path. 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.
The new browser is going to be released in beta for Windows first, and there will be Mac and Linux versions at a later stage. A source tells me this initiative prompted Apple to release Safari For Windows as a beta last year. The question is: Why a browser? What does Google get from releasing a browser? There are going to be many theories around the Google Browser — that it is a direct challenge to Microsoft’s IE Browser, for example — but I think it might be more than just the desktop. Why? Because even today, despite strong competition from Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft controls about 75 percent of the desktop browser market. In other words, given Microsoft’s control of the desktop, it is hard to dislodge it on the desktop. However, it is vulnerable on mobiles, where IE Mobile has a non-existent market share. Like Mozilla, Microsoft is playing catch-up with Webkit, the core rendering engine for Nokia S60 phones, Apple’s iPhone Safari and Google Android devices. Even a Windows Mobile version is in the works. (Read my Webkit report.) By developing a browser that offers a seamless experience on both mobile and desktop devices, Google can carve out a nice chunk of the browser market for itself. The big opportunity could be especially the emerging class of mobile devices like the Netbooks. Most of the features mentioned in the comic book and Google’s blog post indicate that features such as faster JavaScript VM, better memory management, better Windows UI rendering, faster text layout and rendering and intelligent page navigation are all features that make absolute sense in a mobile browser. I wouldn’t be surprised that that many of these features end up back in the Android browser. In recent months, there have been rumors that Android is going to work on more than just mobile phones. Given the light-weight footprint of these devices and Google Chrome’s focus on “web applications” it would make perfect sense for Google to chase this opportunity. Mathew Ingram points out, “Google clearly sees the browser as a form of operating system — just as I think the Mozilla group.” I agree, and also I agree with John Furrier’s contention that browser-as-OS war is only beginning. What are your thoughts about this development?
[gigaom]
Stoner title hopes end in the gravel. - Casey Stoner cites front tyre problems for his third fall in as many races. [motogp]
Google Calendar Gets Better a Little at a Time
If you're a GCal lover with the niggling complaint here and there, the Official Gmail Blog highlights several small but worthwhile improvements to the popular web-based calendar. Updates include better meeting request follow-ups and more flexible reminder schedules among a few other nice updates.
Lorenzo relieved as grip returns. - Michelin improvement leaves Jorge Lorenzo looking forward to a competitive weekend at Misano. [motogp]
Rossi playing catch-up - again. - Valentino Rossi second fastest during Friday practice at Misano, had hoped to be closer to Casey Stoner. [motogp]
Stoner re-opens broken bone. - Casey Stoner fastest on Friday at Misano, but victory hopes thrown into doubt after 're-opening' a broken scaphoid bone. [motogp]
Note well: this is a historic ruling. If you live in South Africa then chances are that you'll be affected by it - whether you care about computers and telephones etc. or not At the end of the post there are two other links to stories about the same thing at other websites.
Johannesburg - The South African telecommunications landscape has been fundamentally changed as of Friday morning when a judge ruled in favour of Altech Autopage's High Court application essentially appealing for all network service providers be allowed to build their own networks.
It effectively takes the "managed" part out of the liberalisation process and could throw the market wide open to competitive forces.
The judgement means that telecommunications regulator Icasa - unless it appeals - would have to cast aside its competitive process for determining which value-added network service providers (Vans) qualify for Electronic Communications Network Service (ECNS) licences under the Electronic Communications Act, and grant these to any operators that want to build their own networks.
The winners will be those operators that have the funding, and importantly the black economic empowerment (BEE) credentials (Icasa says they'll need 51% BEE ownership), to be able to successfully apply for WiMax spectrum to build their own wireless networks.
The losers will be Vans like Vox Telecom, M-Web and Internet Solutions (among the front runners in Icasa's competitive process), because although they too will be awarded ECNS licences, they'll have their competitive advantage eroded somewhat.
The matter dates back a 2004 ministerial determination in which Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri made a statement that as of 1 February 2005, "value-added network services may also be provided by telecommunications facilities other than those provided by Telkom and the second national operator or any of them".
Icasa interpreted this as that the Vans could self-provide, but later backtracked. The minister argued she had never intended that to be the case, and this is the line that she and Icasa fought in response to Altech's court application.
Icasa also argued that it would be impractical to let all 600-odd Vans dig up the country's roads to lay their own networks.
The reality is that not all would be able to afford to do so. But, the situation would arguably have to be carefully controlled to minimise disruption and chaos on the roads.
It was always mind-boggling that the minister's confusing determinations were never challenged in court - before now, that is.
Perhaps the explanation lies somewhere in the fact that the confusion benefited some, who took advantage of the grey area to build their own networks anyway.
* Altech management is expected to release a statement later this afternoon. Fin24.com will also endeavour to get comment from the other parties.
These URLs link to other stories about the same topic
Under the Sea, Google Expands Even More -
Google is working with a consortium of carriers to become part of an intra-Asian submarine cable system, tentatively called the Southeast Asian Japan Cable (SJC). The cable would be Google’s second play in the sub-sea category. The new cable links various different cities to Chikura, Japan Guam, the landing site of a transpacific cable called Unity.
Earlier this year, Google invested in this transpacific cable along with a bunch of other carriers. The Unity cable is expected to cost about $300 million. The new SJC cable has pretty much the same carrier partners as the ones in the Unity cable, reports Telegeography, a research company.
Companies that are participating in both consortia are Google, Bharti, SingTel, KDDI and Global Transit. Pacnet, which will control two fibre pairs on Unity, already operates the EAC-C2C intra-Asian mesh cable system and consequently is not involved with SJC. Globe Telecom of the Philippines and TOT of Thailand are also members of SJC and will be the landings parties for the cable in their respective countries.
Google’s fierce expansion under the sea is a sign that the company views Asia as its big growth market and is preparing to build an infrastructure that gives it a distinct advantage over others. Asia is one of the hottest Internet markets and the demand for bandwidth is exploding in that region. It isn’t much of a surprise that many cables are being built, leading to speculation that another optical bubble might be building.
[gigaom]
Same circuit, different story for Rossi. - Valentino Rossi comes to Misano determined to make amends for his 2007 disappointment. [motogp]
Stellenbosch gets high-performance Linux cluster South Africa’s Stellenbosch University now has a high-performance Sun Fire cluster running OpenSuse Linux, courtesy of Breakpoint Solutions. The high performance cluster is built using Sun Fire X4150 servers, with each having two Intel Quad Core CPUs and 16 gigabytes of memory. The cluster includes a Sun StorageTek 2530 array with six terabytes of storage, an Extreme Networks Summit 1GBE switch and the Sun Grid Engine job scheduler. “There are 168 cores in total,” says mechanics division head within the department of mechanical and mechatronic engineering, professor Gerhard Venter. “In testing we have been using between 80 and 120 cores at any given time and without any problems.” Venter says “the university had no shared resource for this before. Instead, various departments ran their own box-clusters that typically have less than 20 cores. These are used to crunch numbers in research in fields such as chemistry and physics.” He says that several departments within the university have already begun testing the solution in their research projects. “Mechanical and mechatronic engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, bio-chemistry, physics and applied mathematics are just some of the departments that will be loading the system with work once the testing phase is done,” says Venter.