• Reuters, Tuesday, September 2, 2008 12:01 PM

Google on Tuesday unveiled what it calls "a fresh take on the browser," introducing a public trial for the new software for Windows users. Versions for Apple and Linux devices are also in the works. The announcement comes days after Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla introduced the latest iteration of its Firefox Web browser.

In true Google style, the company plans to make the software code for "Chrome," as the browser is called, open to other developers to enhance and expand. "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," Google Vice President of Product Management Sindar Pichai and Engineering Director Linus Upson said in a jointly authored blog post. Chrome promises to load pages faster and more securely, but it will also feature seamless functionality with Google's other software applications.

In response to Chrome, Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, said in a statement that, "People will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips, respects their personal choices about how they want to browse and, more than any other browsing technology, (it) puts them in control of their personal data online."

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