In an anticipated move, Google has finally announced that they will indeed be releasing a web browser of its own. Called Google Chrome, it will be available to download on Tuesday (US time, so we wait a day). The first version will run on Windows only environment, but Google said that they are currently working on Mac and Linux versions.

This news comes a week after Microsoft announced a test version for IE8 (I’m using it now, and its a bit buggy, but works decently).

Google took command with it’s search engine, and slowly got its audience to some of their other products, such as – Google Docs, an online version of the alternative Micrsoft Office. Obviously this seems more appealing with the fact that your documents are online and hence accessible from any computer with an internet connection. However, personally, I don’t really like the interface and prefer Office any day.

But Google hasn’t always been successful in this approach – the Google IM or Google Talk hasn’t come anywhere close to the services of MSN and Yahoo.

On the flip side, Microsoft have had a tough year themselves – the Yahoo buy out fell through and they have invested a good amount of money in various companies, more recently at Ciao. Plus on a non-online topic, they are slashing Xbox 360 prices to be competitive against Nintendo Wii.

Microsoft’s response to Google Chrome was – “The browser landscape is highly competitive, but people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips … and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online,” said Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer (what a job title!).

So the question is, where to from now for both companies on the browser competition? While Microsoft has a market share of 75% using IE, where will Google’s Chrome come in?

UPDATE: You can now download Google Chrome from the official website – http://www.google.com/chrome