Chrome 2.0

Earlier this month, Microsoft's (MSFT) lawyers begged the European Commission not to force it to include Google's Chrome browser on Windows, arguing that doing so would hand too much power over the Internet to Google (GOOG). Chrome has next to no market share, in Europe or anywhere. So there's only one possible explanation: Microsoft's execs have a sneaking suspicion that Chrome gets onto Windows, it'll kick Internet Explorer right in the ass.

How? Speed, mostly. As Industry Standard writer Paul Boudin has noted, Chrome is already faster than many browsers on the market. And with yesterday's release of Chrome 2.0, the browser's speed just went to a new quantum level. In a blog post, Google Chrome team member Darin Fisher is proud to announce that Chrome is now 30 percent faster at uploading Java script-heavy Web pages than it was before. New York Times reporter Peter DaSilva is already impressed. "On the aging Fujitsu laptop I’ve now made my home, installing Chrome after a week using Firefox made me feel as if I’d bought a new laptop," he writes. Many industry analysts claim that speed and security are perhaps the most valuable features any browser can have. If Google keeps advancing like this, Chrome could finally make a splash.

On the other hand, ChannelWire's Chad Berndtson thinks Chrome needs more than speed; it needs new and imaginative features, and the browser just hasn't delivered on that score yet. "It's ... going to need the best features if it's going to be a viable competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox," he writes. "If autofill's all you've got, Google, you're still back of the line." ZDNet reporter Adrian Kingsley-Hughes was similarly disappointed with the lack of cool new features, but the speed keeps him coming back to Chrome.

If you already use an earlier version of Chrome, the new version will update onto your computer in a few days. Meanwhile, where's Chrome for Mac and Linux? Google has promised a Mac-ready version of Chrome sometime this summer; Information Week's Thomas Claburn suspects that the company might roll out the Mac version at either Mac's development conference or Google's development conference in June. If you'd like a demo of the new browser's skills, Google's introductory video is below.