Google to unveil shiny Chrome web browser

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 05:30

Business IT - Open Source

Each process has restricted rights. "They can computer but they can't write files to your hard drive or read files form sensitive areas like your Documents or Desktop," said product manager Ian Fette.

But this breaks down where plug-ins are concerned, as they may run with similar or even higher privileges than the browser itself. Google hopes plug-in developers to co-operate with small changes that will allow the plug-ins to run with lower privileges.

However, processes run in separate processes to the tab that uses then, so the tab process doesn't need to have its privileges escalated just because a page uses a plug-in. This also means that if a plug-in crashes, the rest of the page remains usable.

Pop-ups are a thing of the past - any attempt to open one merely displays an indicator on the lower edge of the tab's contents. If you want the pop-up, just drag it out and Chrome will display it in a separate window.

On the subject of security, Chrome will also warn against malware and phishing sites, using lists that are continually updated.

JavaScript performance is key to user satisfaction with web applications. It doesn't matter how much bandwidth there is between the browser and the server, if the application itself runs slowly, users will become frustrated and most likely stop being users.

Beefing up JavaScript execution is the flavour of the month - see page three.