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Google chrome is a free cross-platform web browser by Google. It serves as a default browser for different operating systems. Microsoft launched it in 2008. It has taken a steep turn in popularity because of its features like speed, security, customisation, translation, etc. It acts not just as a browser but also provides a platform for web pages and applications. To provide security from malware and ad invasions, they introduced users to the ad-blocking feature. In addition to security, privacy was also one of their concerns. Incognito mode works as a private browsing system preventing it from storing information like history, cookies, site data, or form inputs.
History
Google has developed a cross-platform web browser, but Chromium was already an existing project for google. For developing Chrome, source code from Chromium was borrowed. On September 2, 2008, the first beta version was exclusively for Microsoft Windows. Almost a year later, Chrome was ported to Linux and macOS.As users were not satisfied with browsers like internet explorer and Firefox, on the other hand, the safari was only available for ios users giving chrome an upper hand.
Initially, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was against web browser development. Still, he later was convinced after seeing the demonstration put forward by the team of developers hired by the co-founders (Sergey Brin and Larry Page).
Features
- It is designed to perform with applications like Facebook and Gmail is fast and reliable.
- Despite graphics, videos, and advertisements, the pages can be loaded very swiftly.
- The User Interface is very simple and can be accessed by beginners also.
- Every site and plugin has separate processes assigned to them. This makes the browser more stable though it has a multi-process architecture.
- Your google accounts on different devices can easily synchronise history, bookmarks, passwords, and auto-fills.
- With many extensions available, one can add any feature to the browser.
- As soon as you click, Chrome starts instantly with low processing time.
- Google translation is a boon to many users. Whenever visiting a page with a foreign language, chrome instantly translates it, making it user-friendly.
Security:
Google Chrome browser has a Sandboxing approach for security. It helps separate running programs to prevent system vulnerabilities and failures from spreading. This sandbox system executes some tests, programs, or codes from untrusted or third-party sites without affecting the host. In February 2008, It also introduced an ad-blocking feature in which sites with intrusive ads are given a 30-day warning and then blocked.
Privacy:
Google Chrome also has a private browsing system called Incognito mode which prevents the browser from any kind of cookies; it also abandons storing history and site data except for bookmarks and downloads data; nothing will be stored. Internet service providers or websites can see user activities. Tab switching is convenient for users. The ios versions also use features like faceID, password, or touchID to unlock Incognito mode.
One concern for users is the tracking as Chrome sends details about the users or their sites to Google. Some methods like Omnibox predictions or RLZ identifiers are used where at times, the user searches in address bars are sent to create suggestions when not in incognito mode.
User Interface:
Main users have basic buttons like back, refresh, cancel, and forward. The home button is also there, but not by default. Tabs can be seen on the top of the window, and each tab has its own set of controls, and different tabs can be accessed effortlessly. The difference which chrome created back then was the new tab page where the home page is replaced when a new tab is opened. It also displays thumbnails of the most frequently used websites, whereas users can edit this feature from settings. In addition to that, bookmarks and recently closed tabs are also visible.
Comparing Usage with other browsers:
As chrome is a cross-platform web browser, it has surpassed Firefox in 2011. Currently, Google Chrome has a 67% usage share on desktops, whereas Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge stand out at 9.4%,8.91%, and 4.41%, respectively. In 2012 Chrome was the most used browser globally with 32.7 % users, whereas Inn\ternet explorer was right behind with 32.5% users globally. But soon, Google claimed that there were nearly 310 million active users. By 2013, 43% of the global population used Chrome.
Conclusion:
Google Chrome has become the biggest browser globally, with almost every second person using it as a default browser. And also the preferable cross-platform web browser. Contrary to users’ opinions, claiming Google is an open-source is completely untrue. It also has an Incognito mode which is good to reduce history. Sites offering invasive ads are given a warranty and blocked using its ad-blocking feature. It is freeware as Google used an open-source project of Chromium to build the source code of Chrome. With better speed and stability, good performances, security, and availability of extensions, google chrome is becoming more popular globally.
