Cốc Cốc
Cốc Cốc browser (meaning "knock knock" and previously Cờ Rôm+, "‘Chrome Plus’") is a freeware web browser focused on the Vietnamese market, developed by Vietnamese company Cốc Cốc and based on Chromium open source code. Cốc Cốc is available for Windows, Windows Phone, Android, MacOS and iOS operating systems and supports both English and Vietnamese. Cốc Cốc also has a search engine called . Overview. Cốc Cốc is among the five most popular browsers in Vietnam, according to data from StatCounter( ) . A majority of the features found in Cốc Cốc are similar to Google Chrome's. The browser includes  automatic typing aid, ability to bypass DNS blocking and integrated English-Vietnamese dictionary and spell-checking. Another included feature is BitTorrent protocol support via the download user interface. History. The first version of the browser was presented under the brandname Cờ Rôm+ on 4 December 2012 ("Cờ Rôm" being the Vietnamese pronunciation of "Chrome"). At that time, the interface of Cốc Cốc was similar to that of Google Chrome, but the browser had already integrated two features: the ability to download files to multiple streams and storage of media content The browser was officially submitted five months later 14 May  2013. To date, the developer group has published 6 additional features. Two months after official release, the number of Cốc Cốc users in Vietnam surpassed Opera and later Safari and Internet Explorer. On 2 April 2014, Cờ Rôm+ was officially re-branded as the Cốc Cốc browser to unify the company's brands under that name: Cốc Cốc Search Engine, Cốc Cốc browser and Nhà Nhà mobile app. In October 2017, Cốc Cốc reached more than 22 million users and ranked as the second most popular browser in Vietnam after Google Chrome. Features. Cốc Cốc has a mechanism to perform  reverse domain name resolution, allowing the bypassing of blocked websites (including Facebook) on DNS. This feature debuted on 14 May 2013, in the first official release of the browser. Cốc Cốc is equipped with a system that automatically adds lingual tone to Vietnamese text. It allows the user to enter Vietnamese text without the need of applications like Unikey and Vietkey. When users type any text without tone, Cốc Cốc will suggest the most likely variants of tone arrangements, once processed on the Cốc Cốc server. Cốc Cốc incorporates an English-Vietnamese dictionary, assisting English learners or international newspaper subscribers  from elementary to the advanced level. When users double click into any English word, a small box will appear on site, showing meaning and pronunciation of the word. Cốc Cốc is able to find media content (audio, video) on most streaming websites and save it to the computer for viewing or listening offline, by one click on an icon on toolbar. Except for several premium websites, all popular streaming websites, for example, YouTube and Dailymotion, are downloadable on the browser. Unlike Google Chrome and most other browsers based on Chromium, which removes and cancels all pending downloads when the browser  is closed, Cốc Cốc saves and resumes partial downloads (assuming that the server hosting the file supports this feature). Market share. According to data published by StatCounter in October 2021, use of Cốc Cốc surpassed Firefox and, with a share of 12.82%, became the second most used browser in Vietnam after Google Chrome (also based on Chromium), at 70.9% (combined at 74.88%). Also according to data published by StatCounter in October 2021, Cốc Cốc had overtaken Internet Explorer and Firefox to become one of the top browsers in Vietnam." User feedback and issues. In 2021 ex-CEO of Cốc Cốc  confessed that at least from 2017 the company was engaged into selling advertising to illegal gambling websites and other activities suspected to have criminal nature. The DNS bypassing feature is regarded as the most practical one as far as unstable access to Facebook in Vietnam is concerned, since it is faster and more convenient than conventional a software like Hotspot Shield or Ultrasurf, which usually brings some side effects like Internet connection slowdown or third party advertising. Tone-addition system for Vietnamese text shares the database of , another of product of the company Cốc Cốc, which is known as the  largest database of websites in Vietnamese. The system analyzes language used on websites to suggest the most likely variants of tones for any Vietnamese text inserted in the browser. This dynamic principle allows frequent update of newly coined terms in order not to be outdated on the Internet. However this feature seems unable to change users' typing habit. The feature is optional and users can opt out, either only on some specific websites or completely on browser. Finding and downloading media content as an integrated feature remains controversial regarding copyright issues that might arise in the future. The counter argument  is that, since many add-ons for Firefox with similar function are still considered lawful, there is no solid reason to oppose this feature. Using multi thread download similar to Internet Download Manager, the browser is supposed to download at just the same speed as Internet Download Manager, however there are reports of cases where it failed to perform up to expectation, because the actual acceleration depends on the bandwidth of the Internet, and the speed at which the server sends files.