Chinese web browser developer apologizes

A Chinese software developer that boasted it had developed China’s first domestic web browser posted a formal apology on Friday after netizens discovered the company had copied computer code from Google’s Chrome browser.

“During a recent round of promotions for financing, there was some degree of exaggeration and this has misled the public. We are sorry for that,” domestic software developer Redcore said in an online statement on Friday.

“The company should have emphasized its functions and how it provides customers more value, rather than emphasizing its product and services as homegrown,” the company said.

The response followed media reports that the firm had marketed its product as “China’s first domestically developed intelligent browser kernel that will break the US monopoly.”

But some netizens found that Redcore’s browser installation directory was highly consistent with that of Google Chrome when decompressing its installation file. The netizens also said that they even found a file containing Google’s logo in the system.

The Chinese company just wants to receive government funding, complained some netizens. The company admitted on Thursday that its browser is based on Google Chrome.

Failing to clearly mention that fact caused some people to think “we said we have developed this from ground zero,” the company said.