Google registers gbrowser.com, so what. Opera goes free after how many years? Ok, that’s interesting — hard to deny the vague possibility of a backend cash infusion. But does G snap up Op just like that? Hard to say; Google has a certain penchant for doing things themselves and on their own terms, but it’s really hard to deny that Op’s the most technically advanced browser around, even despite its many glaring shortcomings (wonky Ajax support, anal standards support that breaks pages, weird WYSIWYG editor issues, no API, no plugins, etc.). Still, it’s got to mean something that I’ve somehow much of the Engadget team to switch to it from Firefox, which, believe me, was no small feat. So how’s SEW broaching the rumor? Well, there’s that going free thing, and my man Om seems to believe the default search field being Google wasn’t a bad cash deal for Op, either — but not a whole lot else. Do I think it could happen? Yeah, I suppose. Do I want it to happen? Well, they already went free, which was the biggest thing I wanted from them — and if did Google take over, of course the first thing they’d do is improve Ajax for gmail and gmaps, improve editor support for blogger, and open the thing up nice n’ wide for all the plugins and integration it’s missing. So yeah, I guess I do hope they get picked up (by G).

[Via SEW]