BANGALORE, INDIA: There is no denying the fact that Google had been and still is the most comprehensive search engine for everyone, but on 2nd September, 2008, Google stunned the world by introducing Chrome, its very own open source Web browser.

Chrome became a part of the existing Web browser fraternity, and entered the Web browser marketplace, a domain that it never technically owned. But what forced Google to enter this domain?

Chrome clear target for Internet Explorer

Isn't Google trying to fiddle with the (stable) browser platform that exists? Is Chrome any good? We know, just like us all these questions must be bothering you, for sure, but before providing answers to all these, let us first take you to a brief introductory tour of Chrome and its features.

Ab­out Chrome
Chrome like other Google applications is simple with no fuss and frills attached. It's an Open Source Web browser that's fast, stable, and has been built with concepts and elements borrowed from Firefox and Apple's Webkit rendering engine.

Despite investing in Mozilla for long, Google opted to use Webkit engine that powers Apple's Safari Web browser over Firefox's Gecko, shows that Google wanted the best from the open source world. What Webkit has offered Chrome: speed. For the appearance, Chrome is bland, it just has an outer skin, an address bar termed as 'OmniBar,' and two buttons placed beside this address bar that have most of the options listed to control the browser, this gives user more space to view the content.

Since there are elements from Firefox borrowed into Chrome, the Firefox users will feel at home as all the shortcuts are same here. It also provides tabbed browsing, but here's where Chrome becomes different from other browsers. In Chrome, each tab starts as a different process, which means that even if a site crashes in one tab, the entire browser won't come down and the other tabs would remain intact. And just like Windows Task manager, Chrome too has a task manager which functions the same, you can monitor and kill a tab (process) that's eating too much of memory or functioning weirdly.

InCognito browsing starts in a new window having a separate icon on menu bar, while the OmniBar lists suggested URLs from past history as well as search results.

Many features that are new in Chrome; OmniBar for instance is the merged address bar with the search box. You start typing in the bar, and it will suggest relevant links based on its intelligence picking up the URLs from the history.

For privacy, you also get an option of working in Incognito browsing mode; when you work in this mode, the pages (not even the cookies) you surf won't get saved in the history. This mode certainly is advantageous for Web users for whom privacy is the main concern. It also has support for Gears; it can run applications offline, so one can expect applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs to be integrated within the browser.

Google, Mozilla parted their ways? Well, almost!

No, Google hasn't ended its 3-year contract with Mozilla that it signed earlier this year, but it did raise doubts in the minds of others, but when we questioned Google about the same, this is the reply that we got.

"Obviously we are now in the browser space but we remain great supporters of Firefox. After all it was Mozilla that kicked off most of the innovation we have seen in browsers over the last few years (including features such as tabs, search boxes, extensions); and proved that you can build a mass market software product using open source technology and through collaboration. Competitive open source projects are good for the industry because they allow developers to make advances and share them quickly. We continue to have a valuable partnership with Mozilla. "

Next week, we will highlight what made Google to enter in this domain and will Chrome takeover your desktop?