The first time most people heard of Google's plans to launch an internet browser was when, early last week, a 38-page comic book, was accidentally leaked on an unofficial Google blog. The original release date of September 3 was pushed forward 24 hours when some European reporters received print versions of the comic by graphic artist Scott McCloud earlier than they should have. According to some sources, Chrome garnered about 1 per cent of the browser market on the first day of its beta release, peaking at 1.7 per cent on day three, before settling at its current 0.8 per cent. The initial reaction was uproar over a clause in Chrome's end user licence agreement (Eula) which essentially said Google owned anything created or done while using the browser. Google reacted by promptly removing the clause, which had variously been hailed as 'mad' and 'ridiculous' on the blogosphere. More controversy erupted when a spokesman for Germany's Federal Office for Information Security told a Berlin newspaper last weekend internet users should approach the new browser with caution because its security was untested. 'People should be aware this is a beta version and that we don't yet know much about its security,' Matthias Gaertner later told the Associated Press, while clarifying an earlier comment that Chrome 'should not be utilised for general use'. Much commented on in the early days of the product's release was its 'spartan' - or as some commentators put it, 'tabular rasa' - interface, in keeping with the Google search engine's minimalist design. But Google itself says its breakthrough is in making each of the tabs in the open-source browser operate independently of each other, with its own controls, URL box and processes. The logic behind this innovation is slightly technical, but the end result, according to Google, is that Chrome uses far less memory than other browsers, making for a faster Internet experience. Another innovation is what Google is calling the Omnibox - a URL box that handles more than just URLs, operating rather like a Google search box. Type in a URL or a search item and it will provide suggestions for other searches, along with pages you have visited before and pages you have not but which are popular. Chrome is still in its open source beta phase, but Google says it automatically updates on average every five hours and many of the updates are aimed at fixing what critics have been calling 'security flaws'.
