Just released last week, Google's browser plug-in Chrome Frame is already causing a stir. The plug- in allows IE6, IE7 and IE8 users to utilize Chrome browser's WebKit rendering engine, as well as its high-performance V8 JavaScript engine. Google originally pitched it as a way to instantly improve the performance of the always unsatisfactory Internet Explorer. But it's also being used as a way for Web developers to support standards IE can't handle, like HTML 5. Google specifically said that it was also pushing Chrome Frame because they finally realized that it wasn't worth trying to make its new collaboration and communications tool, Google Wave, work for IE.
But today, Mozilla executives sided with Microsoft in taking shots at Google for pitching its Chrome Frame plug-in as a solution to Internet Explorer's slow performance. Mitchell Baker, former Mozilla CEO and current chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, believes that Chrome Frame's browser within a browser will only confuse users and render some of their more familiar tools useless. But the biggest problem, said Baker, is that the plug-in hands control over to the site being browsed, not the browser themselves
Microsoft, taking a different tack while slamming Google, claimed that Chrome Frame not only doubles security risks, but that it also breaks several features in its browser, most importantly the private browsing mode.
The Chrome Frame plug-in works in conjunction with IE6, IE7 and IE8 on Windows XP and Windows Vista, and is free and downloadable on Google's site. Courtesy of computerworld.com
