In addition, Google and IBM earlier this year unveiled a cloud computing environment they are working and testing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University that runs on Linux and includes Xen virtualization and an Apache implementation of the Google File System called Hadoop.

While future plans were not disclosed, the pair said the cloud would eventually be used to support an array of services and applications tailored for consumers and businesses.

Microsoft has been developing its own cloud environment called Live Mesh, which it plans to update in October at its Professional Developers Conference.

But Chrome won't be the straw that breaks the camel's back, observers say, if Google sows a desire to battle Microsoft in the enterprise.

"Chrome is just one of many blocks they would need to be put in place to offer enterprise applications," says Guy Creese, an analyst with Burton Group. "There are enterprise requirements that have not even been fixed in Google Apps Premier. There is no real records management for documents, and they have pretty lousy support for e-mail distribution lists."

Creese also says that he is not sold on the fact that the browser will be the focal interface for cloud computing down the road.

"I believe Adobe Air and [Microsoft] Silverlight may become the UI's of the future," he said.

But Chrome is not all questions—it does have some answers, Creese says.

"It is clear that people are running into trouble with AJAX. Either the JavaScript is slow or it is a pain to test on all the browsers," he says. "Chrome is a way to make this work better. If Google makes Chrome run better they can show Microsoft and Mozilla that it can be done."

And it is that kind of contribution to the evolution of the browser where others see Chrome providing the most good.

"All those Web apps from Google make extensive use of the JavaScript," says Ray Valdes, research director at Gartner. "The Google apps push the envelope of the modern browser. So now Google is offering a better envelope."

Mozilla CEO John Lily on his blog welcomed Chrome and said it should result in innovation.

He said Google is expanding on browser themes developed over the past year, including JavaScript performance, security and user interfaces.

He said collaborations between Mozilla and Google would continue on the technical side, such as the Breakpad crash reporting system, and on the product front, which has produced such things as anti-phishing and malware advancements now built into Firefox.