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The Google of Russia introduces the Google chrome of Russia.

Coming soon: Yandex+

Its seems that they don't like to be perceived that way. It gets funny:

It's fluent in 9 languages including English, German, French and Ukrainian.

What, do I have to download it to see if its fluent in Russian? Come on, why do you hide it?

The more, the merrier.

Make sure to post the HTML5 score [1] once you install it.

[1] http://html5test.com/

it uses webkit inside, results will be the same as for chrome
s/will/should/;

Fixed that for you.

437(chrome) vs 402(yandex) PS yandex detected as chrome 19
They are not going to release it for Linux for now :(
chrome.yandex.ru redirects to this page.

For those who don't know, they had a Chromium fork called "Хром" (literally "Chrome"), which they advertized for anyone searching for "хром" or "chrome". Then they renamed it to Yandex.Internet.

Yet another Webkit browser. Boring.
I'll take boring over hours of debugging to shift a few pixels.
YAWB doesn't mean you won't have hours of debugging to shift a few pixels anyway.
Fair point, there are many Webkits, but IME deviations are an order of magnitude more likely when moving from Webkit to something else.
To be more specific, yet another Chromium fork.
Based on this Oslo Stock Exchange note, I was thinking it would be Opera based . . . : http://www.newsweb.no/newsweb/search.do?siteLanguage=en&...

Edit: NO > EN URL

They indeed have partnership with Opera:

http://opera.yandex.ru/

Also with Mozilla:

http://fx.yandex.ru/

and Microsoft:

http://ie.yandex.ru/

:-)

But no, this one is based on Chromium: http://habrahabr.ru/company/yandex/blog/152905/ (in Russian)

EDIT: It says they are using Opera Turbo technology there.

We will see :-) Wondering what they would be using the Opera tech for: http://www.newsweb.no/newsweb/search.do?messageId=312626
Indeed, Holmes. Opera Turbo in the next version of Yandex.Browser.
(Now that I re-read my comment, I think it can be interpreted in an offensive way. To make things clear, by saying "Holmes" I wanted to compliment you for discovering this information.)
(comment deleted)
what for?
If they do nothing else but default the search engine to Yandex, that's what for.

Longer term, one of the benefits they might be able to offer users, over other browsers, is better compatibility with local sites, e.g. local banks. And maybe curated apps/extensions.

Have you ever tried to estimate how much it cost to maintain up-to-date browser, in terms of rapidly incorporating new standards, keeping high-quality, low-resource consumption and major-bug-free code, along with keeping it fairly secure?)

I think they grossly over-estimate their abilities to compete with completely different structures, like Mozilla, leave alone Google.)

Thinking that they are "Russian Google" is a self-delusion. Google is built out of talent, that they are collecting for a decade, and then by money and top-tier world-wide brand.

Yandex is mere a "company". Just compare the assets - data-centers, cables, commercial real estate, etc. Then take a look at amount of research Google's people do. This should be enough.

This browser, I guess, is something like Opera mini or Amazon Fire - the way to divert, scan and monetize user's traffic. Plain, banal scam.

How is Opera mini a scam?
Tracking and selling aggregated info. Every single page you visit.
Never make such claims without providing sources.
Well, local banks here seem to be compatible with everything plus Opera Mobile. Their web clients were developed not so long ago, when it was already unacceptable to have IE-only sites.
One possibility "Russian pride". That might be wrong guess but there lot of things Russian simply to have something "Made in Russia" (e.g. yandex search itself).
Yandex search launched in 1997, a year before Google. It was the only search engine that could understand Russian morphology.
do you remember altavista.digital.com?)
Yes, I remember that it was almost impossible to find anything with it in Russian.
Why it shall be otherwise, especially with 4 different Cyrillic encodings and size of .ru segment these days?
It was also very good! I much preferred its results to Rambler which was popular at the time (and the developer behind Rambler wrote ngnix, afair).
That's OK. There were many engines before Google that were forgotten. It is completely possible that Yandex search for average Russian is better than Google but my impression is that it is not (my impression might be wrong). I know that there are some services that Yandex does better than Google in Russia.
I don't get your point. Are you suggesting that they should had shut down the company once Google appeared, and the reason they didn't is "Russian pride"? WTF?
No. I'm saying that Russian market has chosen solution that's not necessary is the best one. Again, maybe I'm wrong.
The question is, will this be another Rockmelt which was just Chrome with a social sharing and Facebook chat extension thrown in or have they taken Chromium/Webkit and re-engineered a faster/better browser and integrated their technology.
I think a comparison with other region-specific forks would be more accurate, like 360 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360_Secure_Browser).

I really doubt Yandex is interested in competing against Chrome outside of their target market of Russia (and Russian neighbours, expats), so they don't need a faster or universally "better" browser. Just a better experience for their target users, or at least a comparable experience with better distribution (e.g. it's likely they'll partner with local device retailers to bundle it as default browser).

They are going to integrate Opera Turbo to make it faster over slow networks. Also they have some new caching technology currently used by their Maps.
Personally, i'm glad to see they are using Webkit. As long as it doesn't mean crazy incompatibilities - the more browsers the better!
The meta description says:

Download the new browser from Yandex. It's quick and secure, while the Smartbox will find anything you you need and Tableau take you straight to your favorite sites.

anyone spotted the language settings
Well I've just downloaded it now and it seems like a stripped down version of Chrome to me, nothing to exciting and doesn't seem very customisable.
Did you make an account and name it after this browser just to post this?
sed -i s/chromium/yandex browser/g
I just tested it with my own extension, you can install Chrome extension from the Chrome webstore onto Yandex Browser.
The Yandex browser has been developed based on Chromium open source code. © The Chromium Authors, 2006—2012. All rights reserved.
Yandex browser imported my Safari history and bookmarks without asking me. Looks weird!
Using it for a few minutes, few things i really like.

1. Someone finally put the Refresh and Stop Button where it should be. Firefox actually had it during beta testing but they somehow decide to but it at the end of the Address bar instead.

2. The Graphics, Curve, Looks more like better then the comparatively toyish Chrome.

3. The Options have always belonged to the Tab Bar and not the address bar. To me i think that is the most logical place for it.

4. The New Tab drop page, I like it. But i am sure i have seen it somewhere else before. Opera? I cant remember.

5. Flash - Since Flash is only available in Chrome and not Chromium. I am not sure if Flash inside Yandex or any other Chromium derivative are using PPAPI or the old NPAPI. Anyone?

6. No, no tabs overflow...... So i am sticking with Firefox.

One thing I find weird is that it doesn't display the full URL in the URL bar, only the domain and the page title.
Arh. True i didn't notice it. But Once you click on the address bar it does show back its address. Not a bad thing i guess. Will need to use it more before i can draw conclusion.
> Flash is only available in Chrome and not Chromium

Flash is available in Chromium. It plugs right in.

Here's what I see when I visit that page: http://imgur.com/bwf5N (Tl;dr: a blurb of text saying it's not available for Linux, that's it, no info about what it is etc.)

Non-Linux peeps: do you get an equally uninformative landing page?

I get the same thing. I guess there is no love for Linux
Different, but similar.

It .. doesn't tell me _why_ I'd want that. The footer (in fine print) states that this is a browser based on Chromium.

The rest of the site is useless (Oh, it loads pages. And is quick?) or scary (it has Kaspersky integrated, somehow?).

I'm missing the standard 'About' page, introducing me to the project and _showing me what this is for_. Why no Chrome, no Chromium build, Firefox, Opera, IE but .. this?

It's very low on overall information.

I'm sticking with Firefox because Mozilla respects the Linux community. And use Yandex from my Firefox? Why should I make a compromise when you don't take my platform seriously? Thanks, but no thanks.
I just lost like 5 minutes of my day just testing this boring Chrome copy with a different UI.
Somehow their logo reminds me irresistibly of Opera's logo.