This is awesome! Google’s announcement on 22th Sept of Google Chrome Frame has many developers and myself held in excitement and probably in a surreal state…
Background of the issue
For a long time, netizens, especially Web Developers/Designers have a profound/deep dislike Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). Countless online groups like “ie6nomore.com” and “ie6update.com” gives prove to this claim. There are even posters to illustrate this point:
Source: hey-it.com/
Update (29/09/2009): CatsWhoCode.com has posted an article on 15+ amazing anti IE resources
Back to the topic…
The software, still in early development status, is currently being marketed as:
“An open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer”. -Chromium Blog
It works by running as a frame inside Internet Explorer, and using Chrome’s rendering engine to power it. The integration is said to be seamless.
Microsoft’s Reactions
Microsoft in the meantime is claiming that the plugin will make IE less secure. According to an article posted on Ars Technica, a Microsoft spokesperson said that:
“Given the security issues with plugins in general and Google Chrome in particular, Google Chrome Frame running as a plugin has doubled the attach area for malware and malicious scripts. This is not a risk we would recommend our friends and families take.”
Whether Microsoft’s claims have any validity have yet to be proven. Google’s Chrome Frame is still in development and seems a little early to point a finger at it. However, Microsoft’s claims is still something to keep in mind.
In the Future
Although the current target is Internet Explorer, nothing is stopping the Chrome Frame team from extending the plugin to other browsers like Firefox as well. I doubt they will be doing so, but would not be surprise if they did. According to the GoogleSystem blog,
“”By looking at the code, it’s obvious that the plugin is not limited to Internet Explorer. There’s also a NPAPI plugin, which should work in browsers that support NPAPI: Firefox, Safari, Opera and other browsers.”
I guess the only thing to do now is keep watch on the Google Chrome Frame development page…
Anyway, here’s an introductory video from Google’s YouTube Channel:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjW0Bchdj-w[/youtube]
