Anyone know when and where this can be downloaded?

I'm afraid they might end up eating up the market share of other browsers more than that of IE's. Competition is definitely good but we don't need very many big browsers. It might end up hurting the wrong browsers.

I wouldn't really be surprised if Google announced an OS in a few years. They're spreading everywhere and soon they'll have a smaller OS too - on cell phones.

I don't like Google that much but I definitely prefer Google over Micro$oft. If I had to decide between a free open-source software and an expensive closed-source software, the decision wouldn't be difficult.

@Rath: It is reasonable. What do people buy (=think they buy), when they buy an OS? Mostly GUI added with basic functionalities, browser, storage, photo viewing and email. The other functionalities are very rarely used and they eat up performance. Basically you could have an online box, which has the basic functionalities and everything else is online (ie services).
Like, Wii for example. It is a basic model for futures home computer (we propably will have "light" home computers and "heavy" office computers).

@Zkuq: They won't. Using web 2.0, Google can do the same thing as M$ did 20 years earlier; gain marketshare by being non-dependant on the platform.
Besides, as long as Google "has the web", M$ is forced to play catch and this benefits Google. They will focus on web tools, that work with every platform.

@Munkeh: It have been downloadable from Synaptic for a while now (or was it just as a extension to Firefox), if i recall.

I believe this will hurt FF more so than IE.

BenKenobi88 said: disolitude said: wonder what they get with this...FF, IE are all free. Cant be much money in the browser industry. I preffer IE7 to Firefox 3 but its all same shit... *snickers* Tell me what the benefit of using IE7 to FF3 is, and I'll give you a cookie. Trick question!  No cookie, sorry.

I work in the internet ad serving industry and with ad severs (atlas and doubleclick) Atlas is microsoft owned and it only works with IE doubleclick is google owned and it only works with IE.

When it comes to testing ads, Firefox is really nice for troubleshooting why a rich media ad wont expand etc(due to all of the amazing plugins you can get)...but in general ads like that tend to work with IE far more often than with Firefox. For firefox we always have to troubleshot complicatd ads, and we eventually turn off the FF targeting all together.

Otehrwise I find them to be pretty much the same.

 

disolitude said: BenKenobi88 said: disolitude said: wonder what they get with this...FF, IE are all free. Cant be much money in the browser industry. I preffer IE7 to Firefox 3 but its all same shit... *snickers* Tell me what the benefit of using IE7 to FF3 is, and I'll give you a cookie. Trick question!  No cookie, sorry. I work in the internet ad serving industry and with ad severs (atlas and doubleclick) Atlas is microsoft owned and it only works with IE doubleclick is google owned and it only works with IE. When it comes to testing ads, Firefox is really nice for troubleshooting why a rich media ad wont expand etc(due to all of the amazing plugins you can get)...but in general ads like that tend to work with IE far more often than with Firefox. For firefox we always have to troubleshot complicatd ads, and we eventually turn off the FF targeting all together. Otehrwise I find them to be pretty much the same.

 

Firebug is pretty much the only reason I open up FireFox.

Oops: and YSlow.

I use Microsoft alternatives because I don't like monopolies.

JaggedSac said: disolitude said: BenKenobi88 said: disolitude said: wonder what they get with this...FF, IE are all free. Cant be much money in the browser industry. I preffer IE7 to Firefox 3 but its all same shit... *snickers* Tell me what the benefit of using IE7 to FF3 is, and I'll give you a cookie. Trick question!  No cookie, sorry. I work in the internet ad serving industry and with ad severs (atlas and doubleclick) Atlas is microsoft owned and it only works with IE doubleclick is google owned and it only works with IE. When it comes to testing ads, Firefox is really nice for troubleshooting why a rich media ad wont expand etc(due to all of the amazing plugins you can get)...but in general ads like that tend to work with IE far more often than with Firefox. For firefox we always have to troubleshot complicatd ads, and we eventually turn off the FF targeting all together. Otehrwise I find them to be pretty much the same.     Firebug is pretty much the only reason I open up FireFox. Oops: and YSlow.

Yea firebug is pretty much essential for any web developer...i use it as well. 

It could be my machine and all the toolbrs i have on my FF but it appears IE7 runs faster than FF.

 

@bdbdbd
I apologize that I did not prrface my comments as North America but I did specify a University setting meaning as the figures show the bulk of traffic is from educational institutions (.edu),
I am happy to see that Firefox is more popular elsewhere in the world. I also would expect it to be much higher at a site like this with mostly young,majority male, electronic enthusiasts.
But in the world of the North American educational and scientific community 141,000 discrete users is no small sample. You must, of course, use unique visitors because hits and general trafffic is fairly useless.Many sites have much traffic but a small number of unique users (would discribe this site)

I have to agree somewhat with complaints about FF3 (I use it most often because concentrating on FF make web developement easier) But it seems they are now trying to beat Microsoft as their own game (overly bloated sw) and they are pretty good at it.