Google plans to introduce its own web browser, according to a posting on the company website on September 1. The software, called Chrome, is available for download today. The software is designed to make it faster to browse the Web, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Chrome boasts faster web-surfing and the ability to run applications without downloading software to a computer. The product will be offered on a open-source basis, meaning others can modify the software code, according to WSJ.
Google has also developed Web-based alternatives to Microsoft’s popular Word, Excel, and PowerPoint programs.
“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,” wrote Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president of product management, on the company site. “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.”
Chrome is expected to also cause problems for the Mozilla Foundations, the nonprofit organization that builds Firefox. Google has held a partnership with the organization, providing engineering expertise.