A Pre-History of the Google Browser

Today, in a surprisingly botched announcement, Google announced Chrome, their upcoming open source web browser. The subject of a Google browser is something I've opined on a few times over the years, but Jason Kottke's compiled an even more comprehensive overview of the conversations a few of us have been having for almost seven years.

If that's up your alley, you might want to check out:

  • Stories and Tools, which at six years old is a little dated, but offered up some thoughts on the presentation of web applications that I thought connected nicely with the Google Chrome comic book.
  • Google and Theory of Mind, about Google's great weakness in the insularity of the company's culture.
  • Google Web History - Good and Scary, which at the launch of Google's Web History feature examined some of the implications of the new tracking system.
  • The Circle of (Web) Life, which described a cycle of web businesses supporting each other, based on Google's support for Mozilla.
  • How Matt Haughey Beat Google, challenging the inevitability of Google's domination of markets by pointing out how they weren't able to compete with a self-funded, passionate person and his community.
  • Google Office: Google Apps for Your Domain, which put the launch of Google Apps in the context of both the office suite competition and Google's other offerings.
  • The Microcontent Client, an outline of ideas about the evolution of browsers and information management applications from 2002.
  • Finally, Google's First Mistake, my rumination on Google's acquisition of Pyra Labs, a post whose accuracy has both increased and decreased in the years since I wrote it.

I'm Anil Dash, and I've been blogging here since 1999, writing about how culture is made. Contact me at anil@dashes.com, at +1 646 833 8659, or at at anildash on Twitter or IM. Find out more »

If you're new to the site, check out my Best Of and Most Popular things I've written in the past 10 years, or explore the full archives. Browse by month or year using the calendar below.

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
  Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan
  Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb
  Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar
  Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr
  May May May May May May May May May May
  Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun
Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul
Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug  
Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep  
Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct  
Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov  
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec