Google Chrome Powered by Chromium

Why has Google named its web browser Chrome? Its because the technology that powers Google Chrome is Chromium, an open-source project, and a powerful platform for developing a new generation of web applications.

Chromium doesn’t have an extension system as yet, but supports NPAPI-style “plugins”, such as Adobe Flash and Apple QuickTime. They are releasing all of the code as open source under a permissive BSD license. Check the Developer documentation to find design documents, architecture overviews, testing information, to help you learn to build and work with the Chromium source code.

Primarily it’s because one of the fundamental goals of the Chromium project is to help drive the web forward. Open source projects like Firefox and WebKit have led the way in defining the next generation of web technologies and standards, and we felt the best way we could help was to follow suit, and be as open as we could.

Google Chrome also incorporates the V8 open source JavaScript engine, written in C++ and runs on Windows XP and Vista, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and Linux systems that use IA-32 or ARM processors. V8 can run standalone, or can be embedded into any C++ application. CNET confirms that Google’s Chrome overpowers the other browsers on the five subtests by which Google measures its browser’s JavaScript performance.

Read the Google Chrome Comic Book to know more about Chrome technology.