**Image taken from Mashable**
Look back in time to the year 2008 (so long ago…I know) and try to remember when a little browser called Chrome was released into the spotlight. At first, there was a ton of fanfare and downloads as geeks and even non-geeks alike rushed to download this new hyped up browser. After the hype faded, it seemed that only geeks and internet junkies kept using Chrome. Through the trials and tribulations this past year, Google’s wonder browser has accomplished some mighty impressive feats. On this historic first birthday for Google’s internet baby, they shared the following:
Since September 2, 2008, there have been:
– 51 developer releases, 21 beta releases or updates, and 15 stable releases or updates
– Over 20,600 bugs filed (4367 of them were duplicates, 3505 have been fixed, which leaves a whole lot left to go!)
– 11 external committers and bug editors, 46 external code contributors
– 50 Chrome Experiments
– 26 posts on the Google Chrome blog
– 12 Chrome Shorts, a collection of short films about Google Chrome
– A sequel to the comic in JapaneseMore importantly, we’ve improved by over 150% on Javascript performance since our initial beta.
Definitely some pretty darn good progress, though, in a years time, Chrome has managed to grab a paltry 2.84% of the browser market. If you have trouble with numbers and graphs, I’ll give you a hint — It’s not that good. Still, Google charges on. And charge on they should. Google brought with it dramatically faster performance as well as a new style that while not everyone’s cup of tea, has many other browser developers rethinking their own styling, the latest examples being Safari 4′s failed attempt at tab-on-top design as well as rumors of Firefox 4 getting a dramatic overhaul.
After one whole year, 365 days, 8766 hours, 525,600 minutes, or 31 556 926 minutes (depending on how you look at it), Google Chrome has achieved quite a bit in it’s infancy. Again however, it has quite a ways to go before it can claim fame like bigger contenders such as IE and Firefox. Even more exciting builds inside of me as I await more information and the eventual release of Google’s next project: Chrome OS, a web based OS of sorts. With the start of a great browser, a web based OS can only help if executed properly. So here we wait.
I for one am hopeful. Hopeful that Chrome doesn’t just become another tech flop. A hope that Chrome can grow, innovate not only itself but continue to cause other browsers to innovate as well. For as we all know. Competition benefits all.
Source: Mashable,
