Google is releasing its browser Google Chrome to the public. Starting today, the browser should be available in more than 100 countries. Its an early launch, but like they pointed out on the official G blog - they like to “launch early and iterate.”

The download should be available from this address.

Google has released a document explaining the Chrome browser from top to bottom, and they’ve done it, in their fashion, through a cartoon slide show, which is available here. Basically, among other things, it’s about tabs as separate processes which enables the browser to do parallel processing, reducing memory consumption, and improving reliability of the browser, which is especially important during time, money or communication sensitive activities on the web (browser failure during online payment, or email editing, etc). The interface is meant to be as simple as possible. What’s also interesting is the approach Google has taken on testing the new browser against different pages and content available on the web. Basically, they are using their own search index to access pages that are ranked well, which should produce test results against content that is most viewed by web users everywhere. Chrome will make use of Gears to give it local storage capabilities. The rendering engine used in Chrome is Webkit, and there is advanced support for JavaScript, through the so called V8 Java Virtual Machine.

There is much more about it, so take a look at the Chrome cartoon.

It will be interesting to see how many people will actually use Chrome in the months to come. Apart from Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (ok, and Safari), it’s good news another browser is available as an alternative, possibly with improvements that will make web browsing a better experience. Google certainly has a large user base, so I expect many people will download and use the new browser. Regarding standards, I expect at least a FF level of standards compliance, if not better.

Update: screenshots and demo videos on TechCrunch.

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