It’s a brilliant idea – and it’s simple to get working. Add this line of code into the head of your code…

<meta equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="chrome=1">

…and Internet Explorer will render the page as if it were being viewed in Google’s Chrome.

Why it won’t fix the internet

1. It’s a plugin which needs to be installed on the user’s computer. If they don’t want to/can’t upgrade their browser, why/how would they install a plugin
2. It will only ‘turn on’ when the website author has put the meta tag in their code
3. It might give the impression of a ‘broken internet’ when people view a website in one location with IE6 and Frame, then go home to view the site in their vanilla IE6 and the site being slow, not working and looking different

Having said that, I’m all for it, and I think that I might start using the tag; if people actively want a better internet but are stuck with IE, give them what they’re asking for – it’s the polite thing to do.

“Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

BBC news – Google to launch operating system (8th July 2009)

I’m not entirely sure that this is a direct challenge to Windows 7 – but I do think that in the beginning, it will be a great OS for netbooks etc. I don’t see this being a replacement for my main OS any time soon; I will install it though, but I would imagine that would be for internet browsing and testing purposes only.

Two things that I can definitely be sure of is that a) it will be lightning fast, b) it will be more secure than the queen’s bedroom.

The first advert that I’ve seen for Google’s browser, Chrome is entitled Defenders in Tights. Previously, we’ve seen little nudges suggesting that people might want to try a new browser at the top of YouTube, but they’re hardly convincing now are they.

While this video in my opinion will still only get the geeks – at least a bit of time, thought and money has gone into producing what I consider to be quite a cool ad. And heroes in tights are always entertaining.

Lights, camera, action!

Have I been thick?

Have there been previous ads for Chrome that I’ve missed out on? Is this a series of ads? What’s the best/worst ad that you’ve seen? Psst… feel free to slate the desperate Microsoft IE8 ads that are going around at the moment (Ten grand is buried here, the O.M.G.I.G.P. ad (which got pulled) or the Browser for the better campaign to guilt trip people into downloading it).

One final question

Will it go viral?