ANTenna Blog -- Services

Google's release of its new open source Web browser, Chrome, has everyone abuzz. But the most significant aspect of this new browser is its emphasis on running applications, not just showing pages. Time to hop on the cloud.

Google's comic book announcement really says it all: "Wouldn't it be great to start from scratch and design something based on the needs of today's Web applications and today's users?

On Rough Type, Nicholas Carr muses that "Chrome, marks an important moment in the ongoing shift of personal computing from the PC hard drive to the Internet "cloud."

He continues: "Indeed, it is the first browser built from the ground up with the idea of running applications rather than displaying pages. It takes the browser's file-tab metaphor, a metaphor reflecting the old idea of the web as a collection of pages, and repurposes it for application multitasking. Chrome is the first cloud browser.

Carr contends that this was Google's prime motivation for developing Chrome (despite the contention that Google is trying to topple IE's dominance and get Bill Gates angry.). He writes: "I think Google is motivated by something much larger than its congenital hatred of Microsoft. It knows that its future, both as a business and as an idea (and Google's always been both), hinges on the continued rapid expansion of the usefulness of the Internet, which in turn hinges on the continued rapid expansion of the capabilities of web apps, which in turn hinges on rapid improvements in the workings of web browsers."

As he concludes, Google would be "thrilled if Chrome grabbed a sizable chunk of market share," but the "browser war" here is almost beside the point. According to Carr, Google's "real goal, embedded in Chrome's open-source code, is to upgrade the capabilities of all browsers so that they can better support (and eventually disappear behind) the applications. The browser may be the medium, but the applications are the message."

All indications point to a very cloudy future.

More From bMighty: Roundup: Google Chrome