Beta!
Today we launched our first Beta release of Google Chrome Frame (aka "GCF").
In some ways it's a strange product; it's working best when you notice it least. As a developer, you shouldn't have to think much about it other than to include the header or meta tag or and optionally add a couple of lines of script to prompt users to install the plugin -- a process which notably doesn't require a restart and doesn't take users off of your site. There's no new tool to learn, no new language you have to wrap your head around...in fact, the hardest part might just be putting down all the habits we've collected for catering to legacy browsers. The new features in Chrome Frame are all the existing features you haven't been able to exercise yet.
As I've begun to build exclusively to modern browsers, the experience of concerted un-learning of hacks and the ability to write directly to the platform again, sans toolkit, has been eye opening. Yes, there's still a lot that can be improved in DOM, CSS, and HTML, but things are moving, and the tools we need now aren't the tools we have today. Better yet, there's every indication that things are progressing fast enough that instead of building tools to bring up the rear, we'll be building them to shield ourselves from the ferocious pace of improvement should we need them at all.
If you're starting a new project today, I encourage you to prototype to HTML5 and modern features and then think hard about what you're building and for whom. Do these apps really need to run on legacy browsers? Why not just use GCF to make that pain and expense go away. Once you've experienced how good modern web development can be -- how rich and fast the apps you can deliver are -- I'm convinced that you'll find it hard to go back. The rich, open, interoperable web is the platform of the future, and I couldn't be happier that GCF is going to help deliver that future.