Ask YC: was Google Chrome project really that secret?

4 points·hhm··5 comments

Did Microsoft, for example, already know that Google was developing a browser? Could Google possibly keep this kind of secret for so long without it leaking to the competitors?

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There was plenty of buzz about a Google browser over the years. Even the BBC covered it way back in 2004, around when the Chrome team was established: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3680942.stm

In addition, plenty of small blogs covered it: http://kottke.org/04/08/the-google-browser http://thetruthaboutmozilla.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/the-goo...

So there were plenty of rumors flying around about Chrome. Its just that they were lost in the sea of rumors any large company has.

I knew the rumors too... but did the competition knew it somehow, or were they in the same state of confusion as the rest of us?

I think they knew. Chrome doesn't pose a threat to Firefox (for the next year atleast), but looking at some of the rapid developments around IE7 and IE8, it seems like Microsoft sensed that Google will eventually launch a Web browser.

Chrome doesn't pose a threat to Firefox (for the next year atleast)

Check the hourly Chrome chart:

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?sample=21&qp...

Chrome has already eclipsed Opera and Netscape.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=1

...And the Chrome download-link is on the Google homepage.

On the other hand, maybe you're right. TechCrunch is seeing its readers pulling market share from IE:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/04/google-analytics-now-tr...

Nearly all the market share was taken from IE. Firefox actually gained almost 2% share in the last two days, and Safari was up more than 1%. IE, though, dropped from 30.77% to 23.92%.

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