Today, Google announced a new project – a web browser called “Chrome.” (A Windows-only beta will be launched on Tuesday.) This could be a major transition for Google, taking them right into the desktop space and fighting Microsoft head on where Microsoft reigns. It could be, but I don’t think it is.

Instead, I suspect that, at least for now, Chrome will serve as something of a reference design for other browsers. Google has a vested interest in technically solid browsers that people want to use. Until browsers have minimal overhead, almost never crash, and are made incredibly speedy, web applications, such as Google’s Docs or GMail, can never take off.

What this means is that even if Google is not really interested in dominating the web browser market, it still makes sense for them to have their own browser. This browser can simply serve as a way for Google to introduce and demo new features they would like to see in every browser. Plus, by making it open-source and saying that “We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward,” they are just inviting people to take their work and add it to every browser.

This theory also explains their heavy emphasis on technical details of the browser, rather than user features. If you want to win the average user’s desktop space, you focus on cool features, not stability. If, instead, you want to push underlying technologies into other browsers, you focus on technical details.

It still remains to be seen if the open-source license they choose will be one that enforces copy left or not, but I think it is safe to say, if this theory is correct, that as much of it as possible will be released under a license that does not enforce copy left, meaning that Google’s code could be made part of closed-source code.

We will not know Google’s true intentions with Chrome for some time, but I am inclined to believe this is not about dominating the browser market, but, rather, about pushing all web browsers forward and making them work better with web applications – particularly Google’s.