Google successfully Goes the Disruptive Way

Its finally taken a Google to break the Microsoft trend! I just downloaded the new Chrome, and it took me a few minutes before I could come to believe that this was a web browser. Yes, it feels lighter than feather. I'm not exaggerating!

Microsoft created the design of having the notion of a Menu. The terms File, Edit, View which get featured prominantly in every Windows application was something that Microsoft came up with. There were many players who have tried to break this monotony. Apple did try to change this with its Mac OS styles. Mozilla did try to improve on the browser capabilities with its Firefox. But it is Google that brought in this disruptive innovation into the world of web browsers.

More than sheer removal of flab from the versions of web browsers provided by Microsoft and Mozilla, Google has increased the usable area for users. Here is a comparison of how much of the screen area the three browsers' (Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome) top part (title, menu and others) occupy-

View a larger version of the above image here.

Google Chrome has also done away with the traditional status bar that we find in the bottom of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox browsers. From a mouse-click perspective, Google Chrome also seems to effectively reduce the need for a right-click. Even to open a new tab, Google has a small plus-sign that you can click.

While lean principles have been the secret behind Toyota's success in the manufacturing space, Google has successfully adopted the lean approach in removing unnecessary (or) non-value adding artifacts (Kaizen) in its products.