Project Rethink

They were saying the right words, but I don’t think that Chrome is really all that “different”.

Recently I wrote an article about Google Chrome.  I think it’s important to point out that I was not blindly supporting Google Chrome; being a Mac user, I had to run it through Parallels.  However, I thought it a positive step towards the approach of modern browsers.  I feel that it is important step back and create something new; so I gave it a shot.

Over the last few days I have played around with Google Chrome, and have found it to be “ok”. Being a web developer, I was excited to see that they included some developer tools.  I was surprised to find that Google pretty much copied Safari’s web developer tools:

Safari Right Click:

Google Chrome Right Click:

Safari Web Inspector:

Google Chrome Web Inspector:

This is not what I had in mind when Google said they had a “fresh take on the browser”.  It seems, all they did was put the address bar under the tabs, emphasized the base URL in a domain by graying out the rest, and created a custom home page with your most visited items?

I’m just not sure it’s worth as much hype as it received and would love to hear your thoughts on the subject; please comment below.  What are your impressions of Google Chrome?

Google announced yesterday that they would be releasing a new web browser, Google Chrome.

Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. 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. 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.

This is the driving force behind innovation, as well as the goal of Project Rethink.  There are times when you need to step back and times when you need to start from scratch.  I encourage you to examine your products, or business models, and ask yourself the question — “Has this product evolved beyond our original intent?”  At what point should you rebuild from scratch to better meet the needs of your consumers.

I am not saying Google Chrome will be perfect.  But there is something to be said about having courage to stand up and rethink something as large as the “modern” web browser; to stand up and say–”Maybe this really isn’t that modern.”

From the Google Comic: