Chrome turns 3, promises more to come

Chrome, Google’s open-source Web browser, turned three on September 1, with the search giant saying it has succeeded in making great strides in speed, simplicity and security. Software engineers Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher said Chrome will continue to innovate and improve with continued regular updates every six weeks. “There’s more to come. Keep an eye on the Chrome blog to hear about new features and performance improvements as we continue to ship stable channel updates every six weeks. As always, on both Chrome and Chromebooks you’ll be automatically updated to the new versions as soon as they’re released," they said in a blog post. Goodger and Fisher said Chrome’s emphasis on speed lies in its V8 JavaScript engine, while its omnibox is improved to better suggest partial matches for webpage titles and URLs. An optional “Chrome Instant" features shows relevant content in the browser window as a user types, before he or she press Enter. Built-in prerendering technology lets sites build even faster experiences for their users—such as Instant Pages in Google search, they added. On simplicity, they said Chrome supports many popular screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver to help visually impaired people better experience the web. As for security, they said an integrated and sandboxed PDF viewer enables a user to view PDF files on the web without installing additional software. Google also built an additional layer of security around the PDF viewer called a “sandbox" to help protect users from security attacks that are targeted at PDF files. Also, Adobe Flash Player is sandboxed on Windows, further protecting users from security attacks and malware targeted at Flash content. “Chrome warns you before downloading some types of malicious files with enhanced Safe Browsing technology. In order to help protect privacy, malicious content is detected without Chrome or Google ever having to know about the URLs that you visit or the files you download," they added. Chrome likewise allows users to delete Local Shared Objects created by Adobe Flash Player using the browser’s built-in setting dialogs. Meanwhile, Chrome’s support for the HTML speech input API enables developers to give web apps the ability to transcribe your voice into text. Chrome is also enterprise ready, with an MSI installer and support for managed group policies. “Many organizations such as Vanguard and Procter & Gamble have successfully deployed Chrome to thousands of users in an enterprise setting," they said. Meanwhile, Chromebooks – laptops running on an OS based on Chrome - are now available for purchase in eight countries—the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea. “And just like Chrome, the Chromebook always keeps getting better. When you turn your Chromebook on, it updates itself automatically: you get the latest and greatest version of the operating system without having to think about it," they said. — TJD, GMA News