Javascript became mainstream with the Web 2.0/AJAX hype of 2004. It was still Google's "fault", but it was the slick Google Maps site (and also GMail) and not C

Javascript became mainstream with the Web 2.0/AJAX hype of 2004. It was still Google's "fault", but it was the slick Google Maps site (and also GMail) and not Chrome that was the inciting factor. With an assist from Microsoft's Web Outlook and XMLHttpRequest. Really, the reason Chrome invested heavily in optimizing Javascript was because it had started to be widely used in more than trivial scripts.