

Ask YC: was Google Chrome project really that secret? - hhm

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?
======
zain
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...](http://thetruthaboutmozilla.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/the-google-
browser/)

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.

~~~
hhm
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?

~~~
nreece
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.

~~~
DabAsteroid
_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...](http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?sample=21&qprid=43&qpcustom=Chrome+0.2)

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.

