Henry Blodget says that thinking of Google's "Chrome" as just another Web browser misses the bigger picture. If all goes according to Google's world-domination plan, "Chrome" will be more than just
another browser icon on your desktop. It will be a full software suite that comes pre-loaded on your computer a la Microsoft's Windows and software monopoly.
Instead of using operating
system software to get there, Google has started with search, an application, and expanded outward. Its new browser will integrate Google's search and all of its other applications -- Google Gears,
Google Apps, Google Earth, etc. -- seamlessly. Crucially, Chrome will also be able to run without Windows, says Blodget, it will be free, and it will probably come pre-loaded on users' computers once
Google gets around to making the appropriate bundling deals.
What exactly is this software, Blodget asks? Essentially, it's a Windows replacement, a Web-based operating system. As Google
says in its description of Chrome: "What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build."
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