BEIJING, June 12 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Why is Maxthon, as well as many other browsers in China, so keen to imitate Google's Chrome? Is it possible to give up the IE engine completely and use a single browser engine? What will be the status of Maxthon 2 after the release of Maxthon 3? Please watch this exclusive interview with Maxthon CEO, Jeff Chen. http://www.vimeo.com/5123786

Q: What is the company's product development philosophy?

Jeff Chen:

Our philosophy is very simple. We want to make the best products to provide the best experience to users. That was how things started seven to eight years ago, when I was not satisfied with the browsing experience and found ways to improve it. Over the years this philosophy has been adopted in every development process and throughout the company. It will continue so we can provide the best user experience.

Q: Why are you developing Ver. 3 of Maxthon on a new rendering engine, WebKit, after using the Trident engine, the same one used by Internet Explorer?

Jeff Chen:

Developing on an engine that is independent from IE is the ultimate step to improve user experience. Having developed on Trident for so many years, we have a very clear understanding of the strength and limitations of Explorer when it comes to rendering Web pages. Because we have no access to source code for Trident, certain improvements, such as browsing speed and security, are difficult to work on. Therefore, we decided to also develop on an independent engine that we can control. We can work on the rendering engine code directly for more significant and effective improvements.

Q: Why is Maxthon, as well as many other browsers in China, so keen to imitate Google's Chrome?

Jeff Chen:

Actually we have not imitated Chrome. The interface of Maxthon 3 and Chrome are very different. All browser interfaces inevitably have some similarities because they have some common interface elements, like the back, forward and home buttons. And the trend of simple browser interfaces also leads to interfaces looking alike. But it is not an imitation in the case of Maxthon. The interface of Maxthon was designed after a lot of thought. Each button is located to provide maximum convenience. Of course, we certainly don't rule out using a different layout that could improve user experience even if that layout is already used in other browsers. In product development, it is necessary to be open minded. Otherwise you're handcuffing yourself and cannot really improve user experience.

Q: What do you think about the trend towards imitation in China's software industry?

Jeff Chen:

I think it is necessary to analyze the specifics of each instance. It may not be simple imitating or copying, especially under the current situation in China. We are strong advocates for innovation, which is one of the core values of our company. In fact, as a developer of a browser with ties to IE, we could not have survived so many years if we had not innovated. For instance, many of Maxthon's features, such as IE plugin support, and a custom plugin system and skinning system, were innovations, not just for IE-based browsers, but for the entire browser industry when we added them to Maxthon. So we don't arbitrarily blame others for imitating. For ourselves, we walk the talk... keep being innovative and bringing in innovative features.

Q: Is it possible to give up the IE engine completely and use a single browser engine?

Jeff Chen:

Development of a hybrid engine browser is actually the best choice to improve user experience at the moment. There are still a lot of Web sites, more than 50 percent in China, that are incompatible or not fully compatible with non-IE rendering engines. So it is a natural choice to continue support for Trident. Some other browsers may have strategic or other reasons to favor or banish specific browser engines, but Maxthon is concerned mostly about user experience, and will support anything that can improve user experience.

Q: What will be the status of MX2 after the release of MX3?

Jeff Chen:

This will depend on the users. If there are many people using MX2, we will continue to support MX2 as we used to, and take care of problems in MX2. At the moment, MX2 is still our most important product and we are definitely not giving up on it easily.

SOURCE Maxthon