Google Chrome

I have got no idea whether Google's new browser, Chrome, will become as ubiquitous as its search engine, but there are a few things that struck me about last week's launch:

1. It was odd that a business normally so polished should make a hash of the standard terms and conditions - something which no business can overlook. The story is best explained along with comments from Google's product counsel for Chrome on Tap the Hive  - and covered too by the BBC. The issue of who owns the rights to content passing through a browser is an intriguing one and it's faintly ridiculous that the browser creator could claim the rights, but it does highlight the dangers of reusing universal terms and conditions without reviewing them. Assuming, of course, that is what happened.
2. I heard Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's Technology Correspondent talking on Radio 4's Today Programme, saying that most people in the UK wouldn't have a clue if you asked them which (internet) browser they used. It's a useful reminder that not everyone cares about this sort of stuff.
3. Most corporate users will be untroubled by this for a while yet - a point well made by one commenter on Techcrunch UK who says: "I’m a developer working on corporate web based apps (BI, BMP, ERM, etc), and our customers pretty much only use I.E. That’s definately not going to change soon, I don’t think. MS dominate the corporate desktop and web-based office-apps from anyone other than MS are unlikely to make an impact there".
4. The strategy behind it is interesting and worth considering. Google Apps are definitely gaining   some leverage (I tend to think the news that the Telegraph Group signed up back in August 2008 is a clear indication of this) and the thinking behind what Google is doing - or not doing - is addressed by both John Naughton in The Observer and Scott Berkunn in the Harvard Business Review. Scott has even reviewed Chrome on his blog, although I confess, I have yet to download it. Having only just come to terms with Firefox 3.0 I can do without the complication.