July 8 - 4:50pm EDT   Microsoft is planning a "big" announcement on Monday that may have forced Google's hand in launching Chrome OS, tech pundit and Rackspace blogger Robert Scoble claimed today. While a non-disclosure agreement prevents him from providing further details, he implies that the news will have something to do with web apps, which will be the way software can run in Google's upcoming platform. [full story]

July 8 - 2:55pm EDT   Google's launch of Chrome OS today could create a conflict of interest that forces its chief Eric Schmidt off of Apple's board of directors. Although the two companies continue to collaborate on the iPhone, iLife and other projects, the creation of an operating system intended for full-fledged computers now means Google has products that can compete directly with two out of three of Apple's key businesses, as Android and now Chrome OS both give it a vested interest against the iPhone and Mac OS X. [full story]

July 8 - 7:45am EDT   Google early today staked out its claim in full computer operating systems with word that it would launch its own. Chrome OS is meant "initially" for netbooks and relies solely on web apps; while Linux underneath, all software is just an instance of the Chrome web browser running in a custom windowing system. The approach not only keeps a small app footprint but sandboxes any content to prevent malware attacks from spreading. Importantly, nearly any Chrome OS app should also work in a truly standards-based web browser regardless of platform. [full story]

June 12 - 8:45am EDT   Microsoft's decision to pull Internet Explorer from Windows 7 in Europe isn't enough to address EU antitrust complaints about the company's abuse of the market, the European Commission said Friday. The continent's officials now say that Microsoft's proposed solution would actually hurt competition as it would leave the five percent of those buying retail copies of Windows each year with few options. Instead of having an immediate choice, buyers would have to resort to obtaining a physical copy of a web browser or else some alternative. [full story]

June 5 - 11:30am EDT   Google has begun distributing a very early build of Chrome for the Mac. The company warns that the browser -- still in developer channels -- remains very unstable, and may exhibit behaviors such as crashes. The software is moreover missing many basic features, such as the ability to print, change privacy settings or even load Flash videos from sites like YouTube. [full story]

May 21 - 3:25pm EDT   Google this afternoon launched an official update to its Chrome browser that it hopes will fight back against Safari 4 and other newer rivals. The upgrade further refines the software's distinctive JavaScript engine and is estimated to be about 30 percent faster when using web apps and other sites that depend heavily on the code. Chrome similarly gets updates that bring it up to par with some features on other browsers, such as autofill for forms as well as a full-screen mode and the ability to remove unwanted thumbnails from the "most visited" page. [full story]

April 21 - 3:35pm EDT   Google this afternoon took the covers from an early version of O3D, a new standard for controllable 3D on the web. The format is intended to be a truly browser- and OS-independent format that supports truly modern 3D graphics and which runs well when interacting with the modern web. It takes advantage of the shader (visual programming) effects of current graphics chipsets to produce visuals such as rippling water, reflections and fire, all while properly supporting JavaScript for elements such as real-time changes to the 3D world. [full story]

April 15 - 3:40pm EDT   Microsoft today said it had been given a second extension by the European Commission to prepare a response against antitrust charges that it has unfairly controlled web browsers. Having already been given a first extension that gave it until April 21st, the American firm has until April 28th to provide its own stance and early defense against the claims. Why the added time is required hasn't been formally explained. [full story]

March 20 - 3:25pm EDT   The release of Internet Explorer 8 hasn't had any significant impact on Firefox or any other competing browser, data collected by StatsCounter shows. While the final release of IE8 increased its market share slightly on launch day to 1.39 percent, Firefox 3.0 grew more quickly and reached 25.38 percent. The most significant losses were for Internet Explorer 7: the outgoing browser lost 0.4 percent of the total share. [full story]

March 11 - 11:50am EDT   The European Commission today said it would give Microsoft extra time to respond to its statement of objection that accuses Microsoft of breaking antitrust laws by requiring that Internet Explorer ship with Windows. The American company now has until April 21st to provide an initial response after it complained that the original eight-week deadline, or March 12th, didn't give it enough time to offer a proper answer to the charges. It's not known if the delay will affect other aspects of the case. [full story]

February 26 - 3:50pm EST   TippingPoint has revealed that the 2009 edition of the Pwn2Own hacking contest will shift its focus to smartphones this year in one of the first few cross-platform tests of mobile OS security to include iPhones. The 3Com-owned security group will challenge guests at the March 18th CanSecWest conference to gain full OS-level control of both Apple's device as well as one phone each for Google's Android platform, RIM's BlackBerry OS, Symbian and Windows Mobile. The contest take place in two phases and allow only network-based exploits on the first day; the second will let experts target the pre-installed software. [full story]

February 16 - 4:05pm EST   A primitive Mac version of Google's Chrome browser has been compiled by an independent coder and released to the public. The build, number 9780, is actually based on the development Chromium version of the Mac browser, which is still in a early state and may not produce a formal Mac version of Chrome until as late as June. The custom build is nevertheless said to add working links, and be less than 50ms slower than a recent WebKit nightly build. [full story]

February 13 - 12:25pm EST   The Mac version of Google's Chrome web browser continues to make progress, but at a slow speed, one of its developers hints. Work during the past couple of months is said to have mostly revolved around basic layout tests and WebKit compatibility, and only recently progressed to developing the interface. Links remain non-functional, and renderers are said to regularly crash. [full story]

January 12 - 5:25pm EST   Google has narrowed the projected time-frame for a Mac release of its Chrome browser, according the CNET News. Owners of both Mac and Linux systems should be able to download the program by the first half of the year. "That's what we've been hoping for," said Brian Radowski, product manager for Chrome. "Those two efforts proceeding in parallel. They're at the same level of progress." [full story]

January 2 - 11:45am EST   Minority browsers grew in popularity again during the month of December, according to tracking figures from Net Applications. Marketshare for Mozilla's Firefox reached 21.34 percent, up from 20.78 percent in November; Apple's Safari jumped from 7.13 to 7.93 percent, and Google's new, Windows-only Chrome browser shifted from 0.83 to 1.04 percent. This marks the first time the software has been over the 1 percent mark. [full story]