Google, Software | featured news

Google's Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we've heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.

What can we expect? Driver support will likely be a weak point.

An aggressive TV ad campaign from Verizon Wireless is adding to the support building for a software package from Google Inc. that is shaping up to be the most formidable challenge yet to Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Now before all the Apple fan boys take a jab at this. Read this through. Anyone who likes competition and choice should root for Microsoft and Google.

...but What About the Other Web Browsers?

Microsoft will offer a free Web-based version of Office as it looks to compete with Internet-based software from Google and increased competition from "open source" products.

Google said it will allow users of its email and calendar to access the online services through Microsoft Office, as it tries to woo business users.

The company announced Thursday that an update to Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine, combined with a new version of the Webkit browser engine, should improve the loading speed of JavaScript-heavy Web pages by up to 30 percent. The updates will be automatically downloaded to existing copies of Chrome.

Hewlett-Packard confirmed Tuesday that it is testing Google's Android operating system as a possible alternative to Windows in some of its netbook computers.

Power browsers are coming. And they'll look mighty familiar. Software is supposed to be a mature industry, characterized by some sort of mono- or duopoly. How to explain, then, the activity around Web browsers. Three of the tech industry's biggest names -- Microsoft, Google and Apple -- each has a significant in-house browser development effort, with periodic fresh releases.