Word leaked out early Monday morning (intentionally or not) that Google was working on a new open source browser called Google Chrome. By Monday afternoon, Google posted an entry on its blog confirming the new browser and providing a link to a 38-page comic book it put together to explain the details behind its latest venture. Google will be launching a Beta version of Chrome later Wednesday in more than 100 countries. What's interesting is that Google, in spite of its strong support for Firefox (already tremendously popular), has seen fit to build its own open-source browser.

Among its key features is that each tab runs as a separate entity, so if one tab crashes, you can simply close it without crashing the browser. What's more, you will have complete control over processes running in the browser at the tab level in the same way you have access to open programs and processes in Windows Task Manager, including the ability to shut down individual functions running in the tab or the entire tab. You can even "tear off" a tab and run it as a separate window.

In addition, it's supposed to be faster, more secure and adhere to standards. Google will make the code available as open source, meaning others can develop applications and plug-ins for the browser over time (assuming it catches on). It's probably too early to say what it means for CMS vendors and users, but it's clear that there will be at least one more browser to support, at least for now. Not everything Google touches turns to gold, but one thing is certain: this very well could have an impact on the way you deliver and manage content.

For more information:
- see Google's blog entry on Chrome here [1]
- see the Google Chrome comic book [2]
- see this ZDNet Asia article [3]