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Is a Google Browser a Good Idea?

Google has become more than just a search engine, it’s become an email, Microsoft Office, and an online video competitor. What has kind of perplexed me is why Google hasn’t bought into or created a web browser. It’s not as if Google doesn’t have the money, they could easily buy Opera or even Mozilla Firefox and make it their own.

What would make the Google browser a killer application would be the addition of an offline Google Doc’s & Spreadsheets. At the moment Google has introduced Google Gears which enables online applications to work offline, but it’s still in beta and has some work before it becomes mainstream. Microsoft would be hurting if Google were to create an offline office application that was free.

Offline browser seems like a must for Google, but online looks as if it has already been conquered by Firefox with the amount of extensions they have to offer. If Google were to make a browser they would really have to work hard to make it something that Firefox users would want to switch to.

After writing this somewhat contradictory post I see why Google hasn’t created a browser. They are too far behind to create one that will be able to compete with IE7 and Firefox. Instead of making a browser Google can put their stake in all of them with extensions like Google Gears and the Google Toolbar.

I could still see Google buying a web browser in the near future, they have money to spend. What is your opinion on Google in the browser field? Leave your opinion in the comments.