Google’s Chrome Browser turns 4 years old

Google’s Chrome browser has turned four years old. After about 20 odd version updates and countless new features, it is considered the fastest and most preferred browser for many.

It is difficult to believe that it took only 4 years fro Chrome to go from zero to overtake Internet Explorer as the most used browser.

5 reasons to Chrome’s dominance

1. Chrome was the first browser that combined the address bar and the search bar into a single one. The idea was intuitive, as Google correctly guessed that more people would search for something with a single bar at the top, instead of one at the side.
2. Google modified Apple’s webkit engine to create the V8 JavaScript engine. This was Chrome’s secret sauce to speed. In its first year, Chrome’s speed simply made other browsers like Firefox and IE look like they were from a much older generation of browsers.
3. Chrome had a disadvantage over Firefox, which had a developer community around it. Today, with extensions and web apps from the Chrome web store, it has pretty much caught up with Firefox in this regard. One distinct advantage Chrome has when you install an extension is that the browser does not need to restart.
4. Browsers before Chrome looked similar. Today they all look or atleast try to borrow a lot from Chrome. Firefox and Internet Explorer have tried to bring in more simpler designs to catch up with Chrome’s simplicity. Even Apple’s Safari has borrowed the Omnibox in its latest update.
5. Last but not the least is the power of Google. Google supported and promoted Chrome aggressively on the web and also with advertisements on television.

Chrome today runs on all desktop platforms. In recent months, it has become available on iPhones and Android phones too. Be it the synchronizing bookmarks, instant pages, cloud print to adoption HTML5, Chrome has managed to redefine browsers for the better in the past four years.

What do you like most about Chrome? Do drop in your comments.