Bill Gates famously said “The Internet? We are not interested in it” back in 1993. The rest as they say, is history. Also said with equal bravado by Clement Mok, a famous designer & software developer, “Five years ago, we thought of the Web as a new medium, not a new economy”.

The underlying platform that unites these 2 quotes is Google. Google not only proved Bill Gates wrong and led to his continual game of catch up was the company form Mountain View. Equally, the company that created an economy from web browsing was Google.

Now Google has launched ‘Chrome’ it’s new web browser that will go head to head with Microsoft’s new IE8 browser. Microsoft has dominated the Browser market through OEM bundles with all the major PC and Laptop providers and currently has 72% market share, worldwide.

What has spiced the launch of Microsoft’s IE8 and had all the pundits, blogs and forums buzzing is that earlier in the week, Microsoft issued a statement as part of a press release saying that the NEW IE8 would have a ‘privacy’ button that would wipe and block any third party cookies or tracking elements that shows a users history on the sites they visit. This data is used by advertiser to target their communication to the right people at the right time, to ultimately sell more relevant products or services.

The prospective blocking or erasing of this data would have serious repercussions for banner or graphical based advertising that in many ways has kept the internet free for consumers visiting and accessing data, products and information – YouTube, Bebo, MySpace etc are examples of advertising reliant sites that allow fir mass communication without charging the user and entrance fee or membership fee.

So, why would Microsoft launch this bizarre offensive? Simple, to take a swipe at Google’s recent launch of it new graphical based ad servicing technology after their acquisition of DoubleClick. Feeling threatened and having already quietly developed the browser, Google’s launch of Chrome was another stroke of genius that stamped all over the new improved version of what would be IE8.

Currently, IE8 is now a distant memory and all the talk is about Chrome and the various ASP applications that will become available including a spreadsheet package that will apparently make the ubiquitous excel look like an abacus.