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> IE9 was a fantastic, best-of-its-time browser, and I’ll forever be proud of it. But as IE9 wound down and the Windows 8 adventure began, it was already clear

> IE9 was a fantastic, best-of-its-time browser, and I’ll forever be proud of it. But as IE9 wound down and the Windows 8 adventure began, it was already clear that its lead would not last against the Chrome juggernaut. This is tangential, but I wonder how Chrome got so far ahead, not in market share but in features and quality, even with IE's 10+ year head start. Did Google just throw more programmers at the problem, or was there more to it? I suspect this has already been discussed to death, so pointers to previous discussions would be good.

otterley 7y ago
There were four major benefits that were immediately appealing to users: 1. Significantly faster Javascript execution engine (V8) than MSIE and Firefox 2. Process isolation model improved security posture 3. Multi-platform compatibility (Windows/Mac/Linux) very soon after launch 4. Improved usability: browser history search, autocomplete in address bar, etc. Here's the original announcement (featuring Sundar Pichai, then VP of Product, now CEO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmrMiOWdfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmrMiOWdfc
mynameishere 7y ago
Don't you remember the weird explanatory comic that came out with Chrome? https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html
- jp_sc 7y ago
  Illustrated by none other than Scott McCloud, how to forget it?
simula67 7y ago
They used WebKit for rendering and that cut down some of IE's 10+ year lead. Also, I think they had a fairly good test infrastructure from the beginning ( I think they tested new versions of Chrome against Google's index of top million websites ). Good test infrastructure can give you compounded returns as the project goes on.
WorldMaker 7y ago
> I wonder how Chrome got so far ahead, not in market share but in features and quality "features" and "quality" are subjective metrics. Win the marketshare and you win the mindshare. It's a big part of why the browsers wars have always been monopolistic. The best browser is always just the one "everyone uses". Even its bugs/quirks/oddities become "features" that other browsers need to support, have to "catch up" on, get encoded into standards eventually as "the way it has always been".

otterley 7y ago

There were four major benefits that were immediately appealing to users: 1. Significantly faster Javascript execution engine (V8) than MSIE and Firefox 2. Process isolation model improved security posture 3. Multi-platform compatibility (Windows/Mac/Linux) very soon after launch 4. Improved usability: browser history search, autocomplete in address bar, etc. Here's the original announcement (featuring Sundar Pichai, then VP of Product, now CEO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmrMiOWdfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmrMiOWdfc

mynameishere 7y ago

Don't you remember the weird explanatory comic that came out with Chrome? https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

jp_sc 7y ago
Illustrated by none other than Scott McCloud, how to forget it?

simula67 7y ago

They used WebKit for rendering and that cut down some of IE's 10+ year lead. Also, I think they had a fairly good test infrastructure from the beginning ( I think they tested new versions of Chrome against Google's index of top million websites ). Good test infrastructure can give you compounded returns as the project goes on.

WorldMaker 7y ago

> I wonder how Chrome got so far ahead, not in market share but in features and quality "features" and "quality" are subjective metrics. Win the marketshare and you win the mindshare. It's a big part of why the browsers wars have always been monopolistic. The best browser is always just the one "everyone uses". Even its bugs/quirks/oddities become "features" that other browsers need to support, have to "catch up" on, get encoded into standards eventually as "the way it has always been".