Japanese company Lunascape Corp. has released a new browser, Lunascape, which incorporates all three main web rendering engines - Gecko, which powers Firefox, Trident which powers Internet Explorer and WebKit, which powers Safari and Chrome.

Essentially, Lunascape allows you to use any of these rendering engines to view a given website. This can be handy for users, who may come across websites that have not been optimized for all browsers.

But you can probably see how useful it might also be for Internet marketers. As an alternative to downloading each browser and testing new websites in each before going live… you could use Lunascape to quickly toggle between each rendering engine to see how your sites looks in each kind of browser.

Lunascape is still in alpha (so it’s still a bit rough) but you can download it here: http://www.lunascape.tv/

Source: Serkan Toto, “Lunascape Browser: Firefox, Internet Explorer And Chrome All-In-One”, TechCrunch, November 25, 2008, Lunascape

Back in the day there was Netscape… and there was Internet Explorer. And, rather helplessly, Netscape watched on as Internet Explorer not only became the most popular web browser, but also became the default browser. Literally.

Microsoft did what it did best - do deals with computer manufacturers - so that its browser was pre-installed on every PC. Very smart.

But what happens when another powerful player decides that it wants ITS browser to be the default browser? A player such as… Google?

Well, apparently, Google is seriously considering doing deals with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) so that its web browser, Google Chrome, comes pre-installed on their PCs. Whether this means IE won’t also be pre-installed or not, I don’t know. Google probably doesn’t want to attract any more attention from the U.S.

Justice Department than it’s recently received. Especially, since it was the very issue of forcing/encouraging OEMs to provide IE on computers that got Microsoft into trouble with the Justice Department back in the 1990s.

In any case, Google has to do something if it wants more people using Chrome. And doing deals with OEMs is definitely a way of gaining market penetration FAST. According to NetApplications, Chrome’s share of the browser market is currently a rather insubstantial 0.74 percent.

Source: Sarah Perez, “Google Chrome May Be Pre-installed On New PCs”, ReadWriteWeb, November 21, 2008, NetApplications Browser Market Share

If you use Gmail you would have noticed the addition of a new feature last week: video and voice chat. Hmmm, looks like Google plans to take on Skype!

To activate the new feature, you need to install a small browser plugin. The feature will work on PCs with Windows XP or Vista, as well as on Macs with OS X 10.4 or later. The plugin will work with all the major browsers, including Google’s own Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Source: Justin Uberti, “Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat”, Gmail Blog, November 11, 2008

It was Firefox’s 4th birthday on Sunday (November 9). In just four years, Firefox has become the second most popular web browser with a 20 percent market share.

ReadWriteWeb reports that after launching in November 2004, Firefox was able to gain a 4.65 percent share by December, while the browser market continued to be dominated by Internet Explorer with a 90.31 percent.

Four years later, Firefox has 19.97 percent, while IE’s share has diminished somewhat to 71.27 percent. Firefox’s growth reflects a 329 percent market share increase over four years which, if it continues, will lead to the browser commanding a 85.67 percent market share by 2012.

Source: Lidija Davis, “Happy Birthday Firefox”, ReadWriteWeb, November 9, 2008

In keeping with the U.S. Presidential election theme, Search Engine Watch has provided a helpful list of tools from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to help you choose who to vote for and where to vote.

Here are just a few of the interesting tools listed:

Google News - type a candidate’s name into Google News and if Google has indexed a quote by that person, you’ll see it at the top of the search results.

Google Mobile - type in your address and you’ll be directed to your local election precinct.

Yahoo Political Dashboard - a map of the latest poll results, which will hopefully be updated with real time results on election night.

MSN Election Live Q&A - ask and answer questions about the election in real time.

AOL Elections Toolbar - a toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox that will keep you up to date with election news.

Source: Search Engine Watch, “Election Tools from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL”, Search Engine Watch, October 31, 2008

Last week, Dan Frommer reported in Silicon Alley Insider that Google’s new web browser, Chrome had lost market share since its launch the week before.

While, according to NetApplications’ hourly browser tracking data, Chrome achieved 1 to 1.7 percent of browser usage during launch week, it was tracking at around 0.7 to 1 percent a week later.

A quick check reveals this still to be the case and that Chrome usage is still hovering around 1 percent of total browser usage (if NetApplications’ data is correct).

This isn’t really surprising since a lot of people (myself included) probably downloaded and tried Chrome out of curiosity rather than an intention to switch browsers. Whether Chrome can gain significant and sustainable market share over time… that will probably depend on how innovative (or not) both it and its major competition (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc) will continue to be.

Source: Dan Frommer, “Google’s Chrome Market Share Going Nowhere Fast”, Silicon Alley Insider, September 10, 2008, NetApplications

It’s been a bit over a week since Google launched its Chrome web browser and, according to NetApplications, it’s already snared 1-2 percent of the global browser market. Clicky says Chrome is being used by 2-3% of visitors to the 45,000 sites it tracks.

Looking at our own website statistics, 2.5 percent of visitors to our Kikabink website are now using Chrome, while 43.38 percent use Internet Explorer, 47.18 percent use Firefox and 5.25 percent use Safari.

Source: Richard MacManus, “RWW Predictions: Browser Wars 2.0″, Read Write Web, September 8, 2008, Michael Arrington, “Google Analytics Now Tracks Chrome. Our Share: 6.23%”, TechCrunch, September 4, 2008

Software companies are renown for pre-releasing software - known as beta-testing - and, indeed, officially releasing incomplete (buggy) software.

Back in the 1990s it was a running joke (and probably still is) that if Microsoft launched cars like it launched software… there would be accidents galore due to so many faulty cars on the road.

But the point is: Microsoft wasn’t releasing cars. It was releasing software. And, for most home and business users, a bug in Windows or Internet Explorer wouldn’t cause serious or fatal injury.

Also, software is arguably much more complex than an automobile engine - it’s almost inevitable that a program will contain a few mistakes here and there, given the millions of lines of code that goes into a typical program. If, despite the best of intentions, it’s possible for a few typos to slip through the editing process used for a book or report or article… it’s certainly possible for a few typos to slip through the testing of software code.

That’s not to say that software companies intend to, or should, release buggy programs or that software bugs can’t be disastrous - just ask anyone who’s been hacked because of a software security flaw. It’s just that despite all the internal testing, alpha testing and beta testing that software companies typically go through, they are still almost bound to release imperfect software.

That being the case, they aren’t about to delay launching their products even further to ensure everything is perfect, when (a) further testing may not uncover further bugs, and (b) real world usage IS likely to reveal further bugs.

Thus, Microsoft and just about every respectable software company tends to release imperfect software which it then improves by sending customers updates, patches and fixes.

Now, here’s why that’s a smart approach: when it comes to things that are NOT life or death: speed trumps perfection.

It’s better to get something out and keep on improving it than to wait for everything to be absolutely perfect first. It’s better for morale, and it’s also better for uncovering problems that may only become apparent when real customers buy and use the given software product.

I like the way Google puts it. In his blog post announcing Google Chrome on Monday, Sundar Pichai said that Google’s engineers have a saying, “launch early and iterate”.

In fact, I like this philosophy so much… I’m STEALING it. And I recommend you do too. (Presuming, of course, that not doing so won’t hurt anyone!)

Source: Sundar Pichai, “A Fresh Take On The Browser”, Official Google Blog, September 1, 2008

Microsoft could be forgiven for being a little worried. Google Chrome is not just a web browser to take on Internet Explorer; it’s also the first iteration of an operating system to take on Windows/Vista. Or, as Google co-founder Sergey Brin has clearly indicated, it may actually displace the operating system altogether…

“I think operating systems are kind of an old way to think of the world,” Mr Brin said after the news conference at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters, “They have become kind of bulky, they have to do lots and lots of different (legacy) things.”

Google’s view is that any task done in a standalone desktop computer application can be delivered via the web, ideally via Chrome.

Okay, so Microsoft may be worried. But what about us? Should we also be a little worried?Googleis fast becoming omni-presentand omnipotent.

I can’t really complain because it’s delivering real value. Actually, a lot of the stuff I love (e.g. Google Analytics, Google Earth, etc) is totally free. But I’m a big believer that, ultimately, healthy competition brings about the most innovation and the very best quality and value for consumers. Google has set - and continues to set - the bar high. Let’s hope it stays that way… and that some legitimate contenders do eventually emerge.

As for Google Chrome itself… it’s pretty cool. Quick and easy to install… nice, minimalist interface… copied my Firefox bookmarks within seconds… keeps track of my most visited websites… and browsing is FAST. I like it a lot.

==> Click here to download Google Chrome

Source: Reuters, “Google sees new browser displacing desktop software”, Yahoo Finance, September 2, 2008

Webmasters using the free web analytics widget Sitemeter must have been livid when they discovered why their sites weren’t loading for Internet Explorer (IE) browser users last Friday…

Apparently the problem was caused by a bug in IE that Sitemeter’s coders hadn’t counted on when updating the widget. Okay, mistakes happen. But what is unforgivable is Sitemeter’s failure to come clean about the problem to its user base.

Instead of informing its users about the problem, Sitemeter said NOTHING. As literally thousands of webmasters were left floundering, wondering what on Earth had cause their sites to be inaccessible by Internet Explorer.

Bad form, Sitemeter. Not because you caused the bug (you didn’t, it was a bug in IE). Not because your developers failed to account for the bug when updating your widget (mistakes happen). But because you failed to TELL YOUR USERS.

Sources: Nik Cubrilovic, “Sitemeter Kills Thousands Of Sites For IE Users”, Tech Crunch, August 2, 2008, Corvida, “Operation Aborted” in IE7 Because of Sitemeter”, Read Write Web, August 2, 2008