The blogosphere is abuzz today with the release of a new browser by your favourite search engine, Google.  Chrome, as Google calls it, although in a very early beta mode, is receiving praise all over the globe.  In Google’s natural fashion it is extremely light weight and very simple to use.  It won’t take hours for you to explore and figure out everything it can do.  It literally takes a couple of minutes and some.  This post is not a review of the application (you can find reviews and first looks at: LifeHacker, Gizmodo, TechCrunch) but rather what this means for FireFox (and Internet Explorer).

1. Speed. Recent release of Firefox has been plagued by complaints about the browser being slower than its predecessors.  I’ve actually had to switch back to IE7 to get stable performance and speed that Firefox can’t deliver anymore.
2. Size. Hard to say what an official release of Chrome will look like in the future, but currently it’s extremely light weight and skinny.  Google is keeping Chrome clean and simple.
3. Reach. Google has an enormous user base that already use one or more of Google’s applications. It took Mozilla over 5 years to achieve 20% market share.  Google can tap into their user base and can easily achieve dominance in Web Browser arena.
4. Integration. I already use gmail, picasa, reader, trends, analytics, webmaster tools… I can’t wait to see how Google will marry all these applications with Chrome (although I do have some ideas worthy of seperate post).  With Chrome, Google is on its way to become the Internet OS.

The bottom line is, Chrome will eat the FireFox… and possibly spit it out in a different form.  Afterall, Google did invest heavily into Mozilla Foundation.  The two may co-exist in one form or another, but the real threat is felt by Microsoft.  Read about it here: What Chrome Means for Microsoft.