Product or service · Browsers and platforms

Google Chrome, the browser announced with a comic book (2008)

Google's browser launched in beta for Windows on September 2, 2008, in more than 40 languages. Each tab ran in a separate process so one crash would not take down the others, and the code was opened as the Chromium project. The launch was preceded by a Scott McCloud comic explaining the project.

There is no official image with documented origin for this record yet. The museum prefers showing no image to using one of uncertain origin.

September 2, 2008

Google Chrome

Product or service · Browsers and platforms · Active

sources · timeline 2005–2009

Interpretive reconstruction · Web 2.0 Web 2.0 conventions (2005–2009): rounded corners, soft gradients, light blue bars and Verdana text. Does not reproduce any Google page.

History

The day before launch, Google published a comic drawn by Scott McCloud to explain the browser, after printed copies were mailed out early by mistake, according to TidBITS. The comic laid out the technical choices: tabs isolated in their own processes, to contain crashes and security exploits, and a new JavaScript engine.

The September 2, 2008 announcement confirms the Windows beta in more than 100 countries, promises Mac and Linux versions later and introduces the V8 JavaScript engine, built to speed up web applications. Sundar Pichai, then vice president of product management, is quoted calling the browser the window to the web. This record covers the launch; Chrome's evolution continues in later blocks.

Dates

September 2, 2008 Launch · exact date [1][2][3]

What the sources say

Claim	Record	Confidence	Sources
Platform at launch	Windows, in beta; Mac and Linux promised later	1 · Confirmed by independent sources	[1] primary[2] secondary
Architecture	One process per tab; V8 JavaScript engine	1 · Confirmed by independent sources	[1] primary[2] secondary
Open source	Chromium project	2 · Single primary source	[1] primary
Introductory comic	Drawn by Scott McCloud; mailed out early by mistake	3 · Secondary source	[2] secondary

What the confidence levels mean

Historical captures

No archived capture has been located for this record yet.

Sources

Google Chrome: A New Take on the Browser — Google (press release), September 2, 2008. Source primary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive
Google Explains Its Forthcoming Web Browser with Comics — Glenn Fleishman — TidBITS, September 1, 2008. Source secondary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive
Google Chrome now live — Official Google Blog, September 2, 2008. Source primary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive
Only the title and date were read by the museum.

What still needs documenting

Official comic post
Date it left beta
Portuguese version at launch

On GD

GD has followed Google since 2006. Search GD for “Google Chrome” (in Portuguese)

How to cite

"Google Chrome, the browser announced with a comic book (2008)", Google Museum (GD), https://gd.eurisko.com.br/museu/en/collection/google-chrome/, CC BY 4.0. Reviewed on November 2, 2026.

ID: google-chrome · Reviewed on November 2, 2026