The browser-based software allows users to add details about buildings, hiking trails, vegetation and other features to its maps of the country.
But he suggested such programs were "legacy" products that would "decline over time" as users opted for the type of browser-based software available via the Chrome Webstore.
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This has been a boon to two small browser-makers, Opera, a Norwegian software company, and Mozilla, which developed the Firefox browser based on an open-source version of Netscape.
Google also developed a new operating system called Chrome OS that is derived from its browser technology and designed to run only Web-based software.
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They both believed that the future of business software rested on internet-style, browser-based computing.
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The programs, an addition to the company's "Lotus" group of applications, also represent one of IBM's most ambitious forays yet into enterprise software-as-a-service, the browser-based model of applications pioneered by companies like Salesforce.com.
Google has already developed the software, called Gears, that lets a browser run such web-based applications.
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In seconds, its Internet-browser-based agent negotiates deals that match your calendar (no morning flights, the software sees an early meeting that day in your Outlook calendar) and your likes (outdoor pool, bandwidth, that cool restaurant you booked before).
This would presumably be in the form of a browser-based web conferencing platform based on an open-source platform (and would not require the installation of any software).
In multiple cases the company has sat on information about a vulnerability in the software for months, allowing attackers to take advantage of the bug to compromise users via invisible browser-based attacks.
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Announcements will likely be around revenue models, increasing distribution of the Android-based TV operating system, a browser that works better so consumer content discovery and viewing are clearer, and a software development kit with better tools.
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