Epic browser casts the net over millions more Indians

One small step for the Internet, one giant leap for Indian techies. Earlier this month, India not only got a symbol for its currency but its very first indigenous web browser too, named Epic. 

Built on the open-ended Mozilla platform, the company behind the venture, a Bangalore start-up called Hidden Reflex, started on the Epic project two years ago playing around with the many features Mozilla's Firefox had to offer. "Every browser comes with the same set of basic functions, we would use a lot of add-ons to the Mozilla browser, which we thought should inherently be part of any browser," says Tejas Vyas, chief technical head at Hidden Reflex. Along with founder and CEO Alok Bhardwaj, these are the two main men responsible for this Indian Internet milestone.

Meet the browser

Epic's main claim to fame is the fact that it is an Indian venture. Aside from that though, the browser has some impressive features.

1. In-built antivirus. Being that Indians online are trigger happy downloaders, the browser comes in with a built-in antivirus. It works exactly as your regular antivirus software would, telling you when a site you’re visiting has malicious content and filtering viruses or bugs while browsing. It doesn't, however, affect the functioning of your existing antivirus if you've already installed one on your computer.

2. Greater privacy control. The way most websites work is that they leave cookies on your computer to remember your data, like your login information. The Epic browser currently protects privacy better than any other browser out there, say Vyas and Bhardwaj. With Epic you can allow the browser to retain the cookies or wipe them all off with one click, as you might wish if you suddenly need to share your computer. 

3. Indianized wallpapers. As you open Epic or create a new tab, there will be a wallpaper that fills up your browser window before you load up a website. "Both of us being geeks, we weren’t very blown away by the idea of cosmetics like wallpapers and themes but when we saw the numbers on that add-on, it made us think that this is relevant. The peacock theme especially," says Alok. There are over 1,500 themes on Epic including Indian artwork, Bollywood, animal life, and of course, cricket. Vyas's favorite is the Sachin Tendulkar theme, while Alok's favorite theme is a Bollywood film theme, "Pyaasa" with Gurudutt.

4. Local languages. But what really makes this browser Indian is that it works in 12 different local languages, including Hindi, Nepali, Kannada and Bengali, with more to come. "We want the people who speak these regional languages to be able to contribute to the Internet," says Bhardwaj bringing up the valid point that in India, English or even Hindi for that matter, may not be everyone's first language. Users just have to type their word phonetically in English and it translates into the default language selected for the browser. They are working on a translation function to translate English content into regional languages in the future.

5. Regional news tab. With the click of a button the user can receive local news from the various regions in India, in the regional languages. The browser also features a sidebar that can contain a different website. For instance, you could be in your email and have YouTube open in a sidebar, as opposed to a separate tab. Also, an application from the Epic application store (where all apps are free) would help you make a video playlist so you can play your YouTube videos continuously as if they were music. This is Vyas's favorite Epic application from over 1,500, which include a word processor, recipe applications and package tracker apps.

Meet the parents

Bhardwaj and Vyas grew their company from a Bangalore office with a dozen people and supplementary bean bags in 2008. Geek headquarters? "No, not really," says Vyas. Bhardwaj says, "A little bit I'd say. My dad had a computer store in the U.S. so I was fooling around with a lot of computers. Me and my cousin, we would hack these things, play with their joysticks and do all sorts of things. And I did all the computer science courses in high school."

Both fellows have returned from foreign shores. Bhardwaj was born and brought up in the United States and moved to India two years ago. Vyas was born and brought up in Mumbai, went to college in Canada and moved to Bangalore to join India's own Silicon Valley.

"India, right now, is a very service-based country when it comes to the tech industry," says Bhardwaj. "We wanted to be different and make a product. And the browser is the second most important software on your computer, after the operating system. The browser is the connection between users and the Internet and the Indian population has certain needs from their browsers which Epic packs straight out of the box."

Age no bar, language no bar

The key demographic for this browser, they say, is every person who uses the net. "For any geek, Epic is just going to be a browser that makes life easier and for a newbie, Epic is really going to help them adjust and get used to the virtual world," says Bhardwaj. They feel the browser appeals across the board, from beginner to seasoned Internet surfers, as well as on the language spectrum.

"It's been nice going through the download numbers" says Vyas. "The response has been amazing, on the social networks, Twitter and Facebook, the response has been amazing. Some people have even said that the browser is more important than the rupee symbol. People have just been taking to the product." People have been tweeting in their regional languages through Epic as well as tweeting about the themes. "The demographic encompasses every kind of user," he says proudly.

Mac vs PC

I couldn't leave them without getting a taste of their tech preferences in terms of computer, smartphones, social networking and videogames.

Here's what it looks like:

Alok Bhardwaj: Mac-iPhone-Twitter-Playstation-Tetris

Tejas Vyas: PC-Blackberry Pearl-Facebook-Nintendo Wii-Half Life

 

Epic browser is available to download for free on www.epicbrowser.com. Right now the browser is only available for PC, but will be made available for Mac and Linux too.