Google Chrome first became available to the public in 2008.
Google released the first beta version of Chrome for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008. The browser was built around the open-source Chromium project and emphasized speed, process isolation, and a streamlined interface.
Chrome entered a browser market already dominated by Internet Explorer and Firefox. Its separate-process design helped prevent one failing tab from necessarily crashing the entire browser, while Google’s V8 JavaScript engine supported demanding web applications.
A common mix-up is confusing Chrome’s public launch with Chromium’s open-source release. Chromium is the underlying open-source browser project, whereas Chrome is Google’s branded browser built from that codebase. Versions for macOS and Linux followed after the initial Windows release.