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Google-branded Firefox?
arpy writes "An article on Mozillanews.org is reporting on Google's registration of the domain GBrowser.com (nothing to look at there yet). The article provides a summary of rumours that Google will release a branded version of Mozilla Firefox (along with some interesting speculation)."
Will Google Launch A Browser? and John Doerr Disclaims Rumored GBrowser
The html got messed up somewhere along the line. Here's my original submission:
An article on Mozillanews.org is reporting on Google's registration of the domain Gbrowser.com (nothing to look at there yet). The article provides a summary of rumours that Google will release a branded version of Mozilla Firefox (along with some interesting speculation).
WHOIS on GBrowser.com
Registrant:
Google Inc.
(DOM-1278108)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View
CA
94043
US
Domain Name: gbrowser.com
Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin
(NIC-1467103)
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View
CA
94043
US
dns-admin@google.com
+1.6503300100
Fax- +1.6506188571
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin
(NIC-1467103)
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View
CA
94043
US
dns-admin@google.com
+1.6503300100
Fax- +1.6506188571
Created on..............: 2004-Apr-26.
Expires on..............: 2006-Apr-26.
Record last updated on..: 2004-Apr-26 16:46:39.
Google's Browser Plans
October 19th, 2004 - jesus_x
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.
The Mozilla developers have been stone silent on the issue, aside from a few accidental slips, but several other sources have let loose other bits of information. Interestingly, there's either great confusion on the plans (or a highly partitioned project inside Google), or a good deal of misinformation. Trying to determine what's real and what's not is like making a Venn diagram. Each source is a circle filled with information. Some information is common to all or many circles, some information only comes from one source. you have to put all the circles together, and where they overlap is the most reliable information. So after weeks of analysis, this is where we think Gbrowser is headed.
The overlap is looking like a Google branded and customized Firefox based browser. To help set it apart from the rest of the browser crowd, they're integrating a lot of their own technologies. Since Firefox does not contain a mail app, they're integrating Gmail for email access, with a built in new-mail notifier. Interestingly, mailto: urls will work with Gmail, allowing peple to click email links in pages and have Gmail open a new mail to that address, as well as IE-like buttons on the toolbar for composing new mail from scratch.
Newsgroups will be built in similar to Gmail with the Google Groups service, and possibly the ability to select groups to watch, like in a full fledged newsreader (like Mozilla Thunderbird). And Google News will also have built in access from the browser along with Google Alerts or a similar, RSS-based feature.
Other features include better search integration, with the extra features such as Image Searching by right clicking on an image or selected word. As Silicon.com found there is also a Google branded IM service on the way as well, and could be a Jabber or rebranded AIM also coming bundled with the browser.
There are other, extra-browser features that will most likely come with it, and tie into the browser, such as Google Desktop Search, Picasa (with links to the browser for web-related sharing, searching, etc.), and Google Toolbar features that IE users currently enjoy.
Also, Google loves the recently aquired Blogger, and will have built in linkage to Blogger and rich-editing tools, making Blogger a highly integrated feature, with the ability to blog links and web-content as easily as using their integrated GMail features.
As I stated, Mozilla.org and Mozilla developers have been very quiet on all of this. But with such an open organization, it's hard to hide all secrets. There have been a lot of hidden bugs in Bugzilla related to searching, bugs that even members of the Security group can't access. Recently, there was a bug duplicated to a confidential bug with the following comment by the triager: "This is a duplicate of a private bug about working with Google. So closing this one." That bug also now closed, but it was open long enouch for people to notice it.
There's also a lot of 'covert' code going into the tree without individual bug references. And none of these patches are being checked in by Google staff, but by other Mozilla developers, ostensibly checking in code for Google employees to keep a low profile. None of this is Google-exclusive, per se, as much as it is code that one could easily see as making life easier for a third party developer making heavy integration changes. the checking comments are usually very technically described, possibly to obfuscate their use to the majority of watchers to maintain the secret. Example
Exactly how all this is being tied together is not clear, alth
The idea of a browser must have been at least discussed for gbrowser.com to have been registered by them...
Registrant:
Google Inc.
(DOM-1278108)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View
CA
94043
US
Domain Name: gbrowser.com
Specifically
Your comment might be correct, if not for the fact that very few (if any) of Google's ventures have been money-losing.
This space intentionally left blank.
And that's the problem with mysql_pconnect, IMHO... I recommend using mysql_connect because if you get slashdotted, at least the connections are not persistent (meaning you get more of them). I was slashdotted a while ago and my code held up using mysql_connect();
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Google could then use their expertise to build Mozilla apps. It'll be interesting to see whether this happens or not.
Yeah, imagine a Gmail web interface built with XUL. Something like this, but built with Google simplicity, speed and style.
Disclaimer: The link goes to a copy of xulwebmail on my web server sitting on my cable modem. If it gets hammered too hard I'll take it down. Also, note that I don't think xulwebmail actually works, so don't bother typing your real e-mail account and password. Still, use mozilla or firefox and take a look at it if you haven't seen it before. It certainly looks like it could be a very cool way to do webmail... and lots of other stuff, too.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
http://www.google.com/mozilla/google.xul
They have that.
If you haven't seen it, you might find Google Personalized Search interesting. The interface is fairly slick and lets you set preferences to tweak the weights on your searches. Unfortunately, there's no login but it's just a cookie which is easy enough to carry around if you have to.
It's a Gmail thing. Hold down SHIFT while clicking the mail message - opens in a new window.
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
What kills non-IE browsers in the eyes of Joe Sixpack is that they don't render things 100% like IE. Since many sites use tricks that are broken by the standard, but happen to work on IE, they consider the non-IE browsers to be useless.
Thing is, Firefox, the mozilla browser and the "GBrowser" all use the same render engine. SO if the GBrowser got 95% market share, Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers would all display sites 100% like GBrowser. So there is no lock-in on ability to surf the web. They might (and probably would) add a load of extra features, such as integration with all of Googles other services, that might be a compelling reason to use the GBrowser. But if you wanted to use a less powerful broswer you could.
Google already has an IM client. It's called Hello, and they got it when they bought Picasa.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
No, it will be MPL/GPL/LGPL.
There: Something at a specific location.
Their: Owned by someone.
Please make sure your english compiles.
and take their word that the source code they linked to is the acutally source code they're running?
Oops, forgot to address this bit of silliness.
If your web browser is secure, and you don't agree to any dialogs asking if you want the code to do any questionable things, then what's the problem?
If you web browser has security holes, then how do you know that *any* web site is safe? (Hint: You don't. DNS spoofing means you can't even know for sure that you're going where you think you're going).
If you're really concerned about it, create a user account with no privileges other than to its (empty) home directory and log in as that user to browse. Better yet, install Firefox in a chroot jail and run it from there.
Or if you're *really* concerned about it, there's always telnet. Although XUL doesn't look too interesting that way.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Google Desktop search didn't seem to take privacy that seriously...
nice Troll, too bad it's pretty well known now that the "Google desktop search is spyware" FUD has already been debunked
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
If you really like tabs, there's a FF extension which maps the window open facility to creating a new tab. It's pretty damn nice, especially if you're fond of clicking links in emails.
Tabbrowser Extensions...
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