Google is launching its own web browser based on open source software to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox. The browser, which was built from scratch, has been elaborating for two years.

The beta version of the browser, called Google Chrome, will be available for downloading today in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google said it's still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc's Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google has already had a suite of web apps, such as Documents, Picasa and Maps which are trying to replace offline software. The new browser will enable Google to take advantage of developing web applications that are challenging traditional desktop programs.

“We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build,” Mr Pichai, VP Product Management, wrote on the official Google blog.

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