GOOGLER

"Googler" is my shot for a name of a Google Web browser. As per now, this neologism is used mainly as a self-description of the Google Inc. employees.
Linguistically, it's a misalignment. A prior neologism "to google (out)" for "to browse Internet resources in search of something" indicates that a better meaning for "googler" would be more of a something than somebody that "googles", or simply a "browser Google-style".

Whatever the rumors of Google developing, or not developing a Web browser of its own, I guess it's almost here, and should show up in the next major version of Google Earth. All it needs now is a layer of VisualRoute-style hosts map, and some UI cleanup. Hiding options are needed for Googler's bottom tools, instruments, and command/ticker line which might constitute more convenient dashboard now. Extensive joystick support (instead of a mouse) might be needed, too, for a really good browsing flights. The whole new set of icons for destination servers/routers should be put up as sort of traffic signs.

Mosaic/Netscape-style navigation mode could be turned on by the click on the destination server icon, when Googler would use MSIE/Mozilla/Opera as a helper app/plugin. As a first step to overcome Microsoft's deadly grip on the browsers' market, I'd personally exclude MSIE as a compatible plugin though. Next step would be naturally the development of a GoogleOS: to do that Google could buy Mandriva (Lycoris/Bitstream's btX2 included), and this would be much cheaper and more productive than, say, a purchase of Baidu.

Why Mandriva, and, say, not some Debian, or even some *BSD? Because Mandriva now has btX2 stroke-based font engine, unlike free/True/Open/ClearType
pieces of junk maxxed out at 96dpi in the previous century. But in essence, it may have just VPN-capable, or GoogleEarth's client-server capable 64-bit Linux kernel in the heart of it, only with a powerful support of that monstrous starship of the Googler browser. Compared to regular desktop-centric distributions, this one should be Googler-centric one.

To browse in HTML plane, Microsoft's Web core fonts must be abandoned at last, as too bland. Google's (actually, Berthold's if I remember it right) Catull must be rendered Unicode and put up to overcome Times New Roman, together with Cheltenham, Gentium, some Goudys. Maybe even Apple Garamond BT, but just maybe. Part of sans serifs and monospace faces must be diminished to the levels of their occurrence in print materials due to intrinsically worse readability. Kerning should be introduced into layouts, if not into direct HTML renderers, then into HTML-to-PDF on-the-fly converters. Summing up, big Acrobat and font design chunks of Adobe, if not all of Adobe, must be bought out. Hey, Ballmer, Google-killer, eat this!

Such a good GoogleOS needs to be based on some nice hardware. To use some Steven-Jobsesque approach, I can envisage pretty good popularity of this $5K assembly:

-- 64-bit multicore processor. Or two;
-- 512 MB of fast GRAM for two or four ATi or nVidia chips needed to drive these:
-- 200 dpi 10-12 or better bit/color widescreen 16:8, or even 16:6 (who invented those half-assed 16:9 things, in the first place?) displays, 60 Hz and 16" to 18" for notebooks, and 80 Hz and 26" or more for desktops;
-- Saitek-class joystick or its folding mini-version for a Googler laptop;
-- GPS receiver, multisystem cell phone, HDTV tuner, Foveon chip based good camera as internal options, not like silly dongles, for a laptop.

Googler could be also a name for such a good laptop. The Dell is IMHO closest to produce something of a prototype for this machine, so instead of Baidu, Google needs to buy Dell.

Googler as browser, or better, Web space traveller, might need some extensions of HTTP protocol. Say, something like when used does like this: 'goog://somewebsite.stats.google' in parallel and in background with regular http://somewebsite request processing. Consequently, the icon of a website while being zoomed in, may acquire some color (like pink for porn, and non-pink for non-porn sites, with the latter category divided into further colors and hues. Running ticker line and/or zooming target page may provide additional alphabetical and numerical information like name, description, whois, etc. Sometimes you may want to abandon a particular target by this sniff of it, sometimes you may want to just levitate and suck content from down below, like in instant messaging, VoIP calls, media/news/RSS watching.

Email servers and relays must be mapped to be visible targets in Googler, this time to enable the back trace of spam. You could be able to fly to the point of origin of a particular message and use some blocking countermeasures. Visually it might even look like some war game mission, so what? Unlike that war on terrorism, or war on drugs, spam war is a reality where good guys are outgunned so far.

Color labeling of the Web sites could be accompanied by sound signalling, or alarming, together with whatever voice messaging/flight control commands might be appropriate. In general, silent flights should not be a default option.

Google hired Vint Cerf recently. Nice. How about hiring Sir Tim Berners-Lee, or the whole W3C gang, to do the goog:// job?

I forgot the price tag for this development. Excluding billions needed to buy Adobe, Dell parts, I could start with $100M seed and 20 to 50 choicest, hand-picked developers. It's a pity there's no Google grants any more, and I'm afraid there were never been for projects of this scope. Now is the time. My title for this project will be "Kill Ballmer", quite a Tarantino style.