Google's Chrome browser is now 10 years old: What changed over the years

Ten years ago Google launched its Chrome browser on September 1, 2008. The browser has since then underwent a lot of upgrades and updates to boast a sizeable chunk of the market. At the time of the launch, Google Chrome was labeled as a 'fresh take on the browser' and the company believed it would add value for users and help drive innovation on the web. Quite rightly so, today there are more Chrome users, 60 percent as per the latest numbers, than any rival browsers.

As The Verge reports, Google Chrome was originally launched as a Windows-only beta app before it was extended to support Linux and macOS a year later. From being a sum of components from Apple's WebKit rendering engine and Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome is now looking at a future of becoming a one whole platform in itself. It is already powering Chrome OS and Google is continuously releasing new apps and features to make it more efficient.

You may soon get to see a redesigned Chrome interface. Google is internally testing out the material design interface for its Chrome browser which will turn the address bar curvy, while the tabs will be separated with thin vertical lines rendering an overall flat appearance, Cnet reported. The overhaul of the interface will be one of the major updates after Google Chrome's public debut in 2008. 

In order to make the browsing experience more secure, Google recently updated its Chrome browser with a new site isolation feature. With this security measure, Chrome is better guarded against vulnerabilities including Meltdown and Spectre, but at the cost of RAM usage, Cnet reported. For now, the feature is rolled out to 99 percent of desktop and Google will be soon extending it to Android users as well. 

With inputs from ANI