Google released the Chrome browser 10 years ago today. It initially launched as a beta application for the Windows platform only before being expanded to Linux and macOS in 2009.
Google Chrome was released at a time when developers and web users were very frustrated with Internet Explorer and Firefox was the alternative.
Google used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox and made Chrome's source code open and publicly available as Chromium. Chrome focused on web standards and HTML5 and passed both the Acid1 and Acid2 tests at the time of its release.
It was a significant step forward, at a time when Microsoft had an unacceptable Internet Explorer.
Another important part of the first version of Chrome was the idea of "sandboxing" into separate browser tabs. With the technology, if one tab crashed, it wouldn't affect the others. This helped improve Chrome's speed and stability, along with Google's JavaScript V8, which the company has been tweaking for better results.
After a decade, Chrome seems to be the king of the game, having now secured over 60% of the desktop browser market share. Chrome developers continue to improve the application with new features and promote the latest web standards. Chrome has now transformed into more than just a simple web browser and supports every platform Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and even iOS.
Chrome works seamlessly with Chrome OS, Google's lightweight operating system for laptops. The operating system may not be ready for tablets yet, but Google has successfully ported Android apps to Chrome OS to make Chromebooks and tablets even more useful. We will soon see Linux apps on Chrome OS, and Chrome helps to use web applications.
Chrome's future looks increasingly to be more of a platform than a simple web browser.
There are of course concerns when we see messages like “works best with Google Chrome,” but we’re talking about an open market. As Google continues to use the latest web standards in Chrome, other browser makers will have to catch up or be left behind.
Chrome will definitely be here for the next 10 years. Given that browsers have become platforms over the past decade, how might they transform in the next 10 years?
Google Chrome: 10 years of life
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