October 25, 2004

Google browser I'm not sure how I feel about Google releasing a branded a version of Mozilla.

For several months, there's been a lot of buzz around Google's April 2004 registration of the gbrowser.com domain. After quite a while of digging, I believe I've managed to boil some truth out of the rumor stew. While this is pure speculation, it's speculation based on a wide variety of facts gathered over the past three months. Feel free to take it with a generous helping of salt.

posted by Skrik 19 years ago
  • slowly.......becoming..........evil.........not.....quite.....wholesome....anymore.....still....better.....than....microsoft....I suppose....
  • Let's play the 6 online degrees of Havrilesky here: 1) article references google purshase of blogger 2) Heather Havrilesky on blogging panel when said purshase was announced.
  • ActuallySettle --- yes, but if MS released a rebranded Mozilla as the new substitute, I think I'd be so happy I'd pee my pants. I hope to God this is true, as I personally don't hate MS or Google nearly so much as I hate MSIE.
  • I think it'll be okay as long as Google remains open about what their software does. They didn't try to keep it a secret that Google Desktop Search isn't for multi-user systems, or that it phones home with information about its usage. I have no problem with a large number of integrated programs (KDE for example, or even Microsoft) but rather with how they treat customers. So far, Google has been decent with us.
  • I've seen comments that suggest google wont be releasing a browser. At the Web 2 conference one of the investors said there was no chance of a google browser. Would I use it if they did make one? hmmmm ... nope. Any new browser would have to be miles ahead of what firefox is in order to switch or mozilla would have to do something that pissed me off enough to search out another browser. Google has never been open about what it does. When they became a public company they never released a statement about what they planned for the future. Millions and millions of dollars (say it like Carl Sagan would) and everyone is clueless about what will be done with all that cash. This is why people speculate so much about what google may be doing. ot: anyone else see the java script hack for GDS that allows you to share the contents of your hard drive with everyone else?
  • gbrowser is a sucky name. They should call it "The Growser". Either that or "The Gibba Gabba Goobly Machine".
  • I'd do it if they called it "TheGschnauzer"
  • I don't think this will happen. If they do release something like a browser, that opens them up to the downfall of most companies:tech support. Release a browser and they will get tons of people calling them for every minor little problem requiring them to hire tons of tech support people, something they don't have to do right now.
  • What would Mozilla sell(out) for? Does Google have enough? Buying Mozilla outright would really create a rival to M$. Microsoft controlling the closed networks, Google being the dominant power on the internet. I'm just hypothesizing here, but is it really impossible?
  • well, if google throws their weight and cash behind mozilla, the same way netscape originally did, mozilla gets a boost, they handle bug reports and tech support, they get better integrated search tools through access to google experimental stuff, and google could get a rebranded mozilla, essentially like netscape was - same under the hood, but a different set of base packages on top. looks like a win-win situation to me: mozilla gets promotions and advertising and a larger user base, google starts to hit MS as they begin trying to expand into search. pipe dreams of course, pipe dreams. but anything to make MS pay attention to browser standards makes my life easier. i hate that steaming turd of a browser. i hate that MS makes me use it to do system updates, too.