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John Doerr Disclaims Rumored GBrowser
iseff writes "Contrary to the rumors which have been circulating, John Doerr (VC and early investor in Google) told the Web 2.0 conference that although he believes in another browser war, Google won't be a part of it. Then again, he did say he didn't know everything that goes on at Google, even though he's on the board. Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?"
If you look at all the new programs they've been putting out lately, the deskbar, the toolbar, the new Gmail Notifier etc. and realize that all that stuff could be very usefully integrated into a web browser... not to mention some of the stuff floating around in their Labs section. I suspect that's not the last word we'll here on a new browser.
Because every business likes to keep its options open?
Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?
Um, isn't it obvious? Can you think of what the public's reaction would be if a company released a "Google browser" which contained spyware/adware? Plus the possiblity that they might want to make a browser in the future? After all, when you're a big company like Google, you've gotta cover your ass or it'll get sued to hell.
If they believe in the browser war, why do they only support IE?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I belive that the tool bar and the gmail notifier are Windows/IE only.
-Peter
Not that I see Google making a browser ( I don't... maybe they'd pick up a cobrand an existing one, if anything ), but this guy's statement could just be possitioned to throw people off of an otherwise secret business strategy... I seem to recall Netflix and Tivo denying their deal quite firmly, for example...
Registering and keeping your own names out of everyone else's hands is a much simpler and cheaper way to do it, rather than getting into nasty, expensive lawsuits later on over who gbrowser.com is owned by. How much did the Lindows lawsuit cost MS, both in terms of $$ and public good will?
Like any company, the decision to do something relies to this something's profitability. Given that Google is not responsible to its shareholders, this cannot be more true.
So what can Google profit from a browser? Can it add its Text Ads to the browser, will users accept yet-another "advertisement" browser?
Wouldn't it be just as logical that they may be adding additional firepower to the Mozilla/Firefox development at some point? I won't get rich on the quality of my predictions, but that would make a degree of sense. Or, at least, they might be developing some google-specific extensions intended to rock our world. Heck, if I was smart enough to know what those are, I'd be working at google!
Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.
"However it is VERY smart to throw all their weight and resources into making mozilla so killer it blows IE out of the water."
More 'features'. Yeah, that's just what Mozilla needs. It's already a 12MB download and has a HUGE memory footprint.
Google is the last thing that Mozilla needs. It's a shame that Google has managed to infiltrate Firefox (Google search bar) already. I was under the impression that Firefox was supposed to be lean and mean.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Of course, they also could want to avoid some porn site to use that domain name to trick visitors thinking that it as a "door" to google.
I'm really kind of sorry to hear Google isn't making a browser. If they went ahead and made a Google-branded and oriented Gecko based browser (think Mozilla suite but replace Thunderbird with gmail, etc.) I think it'd add some more variety into the browser market, and also give Gecko-based browsers another head-up on proprietary solutions.
Granted I'd personally probably not use it over Firefox, but it'd be a nice semi-commercial, end-user target, corporate-driven alternative for the everyday Joe. Integration of information processing is becoming a big deal, and a single Google-branded suite that somehow managed to provide a single interface to all of Google's many services (search, news, mail, shopping, dmoz, etc.) would doubtless be highly successful.
'The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,' -Hamá, the doorward
Google hasn't "infiltrated" Firefox. The search bar has Google set as the default but you can add virtually any search engine you want in addition to or instead of it. It's not the "Google search bar" it's simply "The Search Bar"
The folks at Mozilla just recognized that Google is the best search engine out there (and the most popular I believe) and decided to make it easier to access it. I believe this is also true of the Safari and Opera browsers as well.
Scott
©20014 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
gbrowser.com... afterall, they failed to register gmail.com didnt they? maybe they are just protecting their interests, or maybe sometime in the future they MAY create a browser, and dont want to deal with a cybersquater
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
Woops, mod that as failing to RTFM...
"Can I read an entire book online?
No, afraid not. Google Print is designed to help you discover books, not read them from start to finish. It's like going to a bookstore and browsing - only with a Google twist. Google searches across entire books in order to find the pages that are most relevant to your search. Once you're on a book page, you can 'flip' two pages forward and back, view other information about the book and even conduct another search within the book."
Because for most "normal" people, typing gmail.com is more intuitive them gmail.google.com.
Google employees have these little side projects that they call 20% Projects. If there is going to be a browser, I'm betting it's going to one of these 20% Project based off of Mozilla/Gecko.
Or it could be the result of a new group that was formed at Google to address the issue of their OSS involvement. All I know about this is that they want to become more involved in various OSS projects to address the question of people asking "You use so much OSS, why don't you contribute much back?" Believe me, they're very grateful to the OSS community, and they do feel a large obligation to give back. It's just that many of the engineers/developers haven't had the time.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
I was thinking the same thing. Browser doesn't have to mean web-browser. When I first saw it I thought it would probably be a listing site, as in browse through googles entries by "browsing" and not searching. Maybe something extra dynamic from google, something that works better than yahoo.
Why is parent only a 3? Bump this guys karma, because he's absolutely correct.
It's worth noting that http://mail.google.com actually does take you to gmail.
Schlock Mercenary