Gazelle (web browser)

Gazelle was a research web browser project by Microsoft Research, first announced in early 2009.[1] The central notion of the project was to apply operating system (OS) principles to browser construction.[2] In particular, the browser had a secure kernel, modelled after an OS kernel, and various web sources run as separate "principals" above that, similar to user space processes in an OS.[2] The goal of doing this was to prevent bad code from one web source to affect the rendering or processing of code from other web sources.[2] Browser plugins are also managed as principals.[2]

Gazelle had a predecessor project, MashupOS, but with Gazelle the emphasis was on a more secure browser.[3][4]

By the July 2009 announcement of Google Chrome OS, Gazelle was seen as a possible alternative Microsoft architectural approach compared to Google's direction.[5][6][7] That is, rather than the OS being reduced in role to that of a browser, the browser would be strengthened using OS principles.[5]

The Gazelle project became dormant, and ServiceOS arose as a replacement project also related to browser architectures.[8][9] But by 2015, the SecureOS project was also dormant, after Microsoft decided that its new flagship browser would be Edge.[10][11]

References
  1. "The Multi-Principal OS Construction of the Gazelle Web Browser" (Microsoft Research whitepaper, PDF)
  2. "Gazelle: Applying Operating System Concepts to the Browser" OSNews July 7, 2009
  3. Foley, Mary Jo (11 March 2011). "Microsoft's ServiceOS: A potential piece of Microsoft's cloud play, post-Windows 8". ZDnet. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  4. Foley, Mary Jo (23 February 2009). "Microsoft's MashupOS leaps like a Gazelle". ZDnet. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  5. "Microsoft's Gazelle browser takes a radical path" CNet July 7, 2009
  6. "Google’s Chrome OS vs. Windows" The Week July 8, 2009
  7. "Google Chrome OS: is it copying Microsoft's Gazelle or is it more like Splashtop?" The Guardian July 8, 2009
  8. Resource Management for Web Applications in ServiceOS
  9. Foley, Mary Jo (26 May 2010). "ServiceOS: Microsoft's morphing browser-operating system project". ZDnet. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  10. Foley, Mary Jo (2 December 2015). "Microsoft plans to add containers to Windows client, too". ZDnet. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  11. Newman, Jared (29 April 2015). "'Project Spartan' no more: Microsoft's new browser is called Edge". PCWorld. IDG. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
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