Google Announces Chrome Web Browser

Monday, Google announced that they would entering the browser wars with an open source browser based on the Webkit rendering engine.  The Official Google Blog has a post saying it should be available today, though all of the Chrome related pages seem to be down for the time being.

Here are some of the details that have leaked:

• Chrome will be open source and based on the existing Webkit rendering engine
• It will have Google Gears built in
• It will include a special Javascript virtual machine named V8, designed to speed up Javascript to allow for much more intricate web apps
• There will be a private surfing mode
• Tabs will be on the top of the browser window
• And much, much more, Google Blogoscoped has an excellent write up.

I can’t wait to see what it is like.  Here is a link to the comic Google used to announce it.