Google launches Chrome Frame

The new plug-in renders IE pages with Chrome's WebKit-based engine

Google has come up with an Internet Explorer plug-in that turns it into its own Chrome browser.

According to the firm's blog, the plug-in brings Chrome's faster performance and expanded capabilities into Microsoft's standard offering.

Dubbed Google Chrome Frame, it installs as an IE add-on and starts working within the existing Internet Explorer setup.

All pages opened with Internet Explorer are then rendered with Chrome's WebKit-based engine. The advantage is that it has the more advanced HTML5 support not normally available in Microsoft's browser.

Google said that recent JavaScript performance improvements and the emergence of HTML5 have enabled web applications to do things that could previously only be done by desktop software.

One challenge developers face in using these new technologies is that they are not yet supported by Internet Explorer, it said. Since they can't afford to ignore IE, developers waste time implementing work-arounds or limiting the functionality of their apps.

"With Google Chrome Frame, developers can now take advantage of the latest open web technologies, even in Internet Explorer," the blog posting read.

Google Chrome Frame can be installed in any version of Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8.

Chrome Frame is currently described as an "early version" intended for developers. Google claims that it enables the creation of an "open web" free from the perils of Microsoft.

The fact that it draws more punters into the Chrome universe will not harm Google either. It also means that web analysis firms will register hits from IE machines with the plug-in as Chrome hits.

There are also versions of the Chrome plug-in that will work with Firefox and Safari.