Google Could Double Web Speeds With SPDY Protocol
So Chrome OS, and the various enhancements Google is developing to milk every bit of potential from the Internet, are shaping up nicely. But there is still one major hurdle to overcome -- HTTP, or hyper text transfer protocol. HTTP is what browsers and and Web sites use to define how and when data is passed back and forth. The problem is that HTTP has existed, more or less in its current form, since 1996, a time when Web sites were primarily simple documents with static text and images.
So Google is developing a new protocol, dubbed SPDY (pronounced speedy). SPDY is designed, from the ground up, to handle modern Web apps that transfer several smaller files. Without getting too technical, SPDY is able to handle multiple streams of data at once and prioritize on the fly. This means that if the background image of a site takes a long time to load, it doesn't stall the rest of the content from being fed to the browser. SPDY also compresses request and response data (which asks for specific content and tells a browser what to display) so that multiple requests can be sent at once using less bandwidth. In simple terms this means much faster Web applications and more responsive sites.
Of course, there are problems. Sites will have to switch to this new protocol from HTTP -- not an easy task -- and browsers will have to support it. Until that happens, no Web sites will be jumping in and risk alienating non-Chrome-using customers.
In the lab Google was able to improve load times 55-percent over HTTP. If it can replicate those results in the real world, expect developers to sit up and take notice. This will of course set off alarms at Microsoft, which would not be happy with Google owning the protocol through which all Web sites are transmitted.
This could be the first salvo in a whole new theater in the battle for the Web. The browser wars may give way to the protocol wars, which could lead to a much faster and more flexible Internet -- a boon for all of us. [From: Download Squad, Ars Technica, and The Chromium Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
icus said 9:48AM on 11-14-2009
Google would just have to keep http compatibility until people get used to a new standard... If the new stuff is faster, customers would ask for it and web developers would get on board and so on and so forth
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Zoe said 7:56AM on 11-16-2009
Put the new protocol into Chrome, Mozilla and Apache. Apache can serve up old HTTP when slow browsers (read IE) show up, but use new protocol for other browsers that support it. Have a feeling people will go for speed.
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nozradia said 8:46PM on 11-18-2009
i think more companies would built their own protocol. hhhhmmm
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Spence said 11:02AM on 11-16-2009
I'll bet HTTP will improve to follow the SPDY intentions. It'll certainly be a messy transition no matter what. I wonder how the 50% of internet users with IE6 and Windows XP service pack 1 will handle the transition. - The thousands of users who never update their OS.. I wonder how all the web-sites with Windows Server 200X will handle the switch. Computers & software are pretty modular, so I'm sure there will be an update pack for Apache going around when the time comes. Every host from 1and1, to the hostgator & 0catch families to goDaddy will all update to support every browser from IE4 (HTTP1&1.1) to Google Chrome(SPDY1).
Microsoft has the biggest foot in the door, providing the most popular operating systems, and browsers, ever. Also has more loyal customers than any other OS company, despite Mac's commercials & Google's "Pipe Dream." Google has the most popular Search Engine, ever. One which revolutionized search by convincing billions to do something they have never known how to do before! (Change their home-page!) Microsoft revolutionized the world by teaching Joe Shmo how to install and use the computer, giving birth to the internet; Giving birth to Google. Now, Microsoft's grandson is coming back to haunt him.. I wonder what Mic's brother Mac's thinking about all this... Lol Sorry for the soap opera..
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John Hamm said 11:03AM on 11-16-2009
"which would not be happy with Google owning the protocol through which all Web sites are transmitted"
Nobody would use a protocol that is proprietary. Google would have to make it an open standard, and therefore wouldn't "own" it if they have any hope of it being widely adopted on the web. If not, then an open standard will eventually emerge that everyone will eventually use.
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Jad said 10:22AM on 12-04-2009
Google can make SPDY open, yet still hold ownership to it.
Deepak Sharma said 12:35PM on 11-16-2009
Also I think the protocol will be a success only if the learning curve is very small because not every company will be on-board in training developers for the new protocol. All said and done I think google is doing a great job developing a new protocol and I am very excited to see this in action.
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terrence said 9:51AM on 11-17-2009
@John Hamm
It's not that it would be a proprietary protocol and Google would literally "own" it, but that Google would be the main force behind its creation and maintenance would surely bother a company like Microsoft, even if they were invited to help develop the standard.
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