" Google created the open source Chromium project to underpin the foundations of Chrome browser design and development, as well as the Google Chrome OS operating system. The goal of the project was to offer a more stable, faster and more secure browser that had a simpler and more efficient user interface " , an excerpt from the book "The Truth Behind Google ".
Based on this project, the almighty Google was able to bring two products that ended up on the market - the Chrome browser and the Chrome OS system, as well as laying the groundwork for a browser that remains open-source to this day, Chromium. In this article we will look at the difference between Chrome and Chromium . Browsers that carry many similarities and differences.
⇒ Google Chrome
When Chrome came out of the market, trying to make its mark in the browser market, Microsoft's Internet Explorer still had a dominant position, with 73.75% of the market, followed by Firefox, from the Mozilla foundation, with 18.41% of the market. Firefox was instrumental in getting Google to enter the browser market. Sergin Brian and Larry Page's company had a close relationship with the foundation, providing technical and financial support to the Mozilla browser, but at the same time laying the groundwork for bringing their own browser to market, which would later become Chrome, based on the open source project Chromium.
Internally there was a certain duality of positions about Google investing in a browser. The company's boss at the time, Eric Schmidt, believed that the company did not have the time and resources to compete in the browser market. However, Google founders Sergin Brian and Larry Page funded the project and invested heavily in the idea, bringing several engineers working on Firefox to GooglePlex. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2009, Schmidt admitted that after seeing the browser prototype that engineers were developing for Google, he changed his mind, considering the browser launch a hit.
In the book "How Google Works" (Intrinsic Publisher / 2015), written by Eric Schmidt himself, the executive defines Google Chrome as an open source browser that came with the understanding that as sites were becoming more complex and powerful, navigators needed to be redone to be faster.
Google Chrome currently has a dominant position, just as Internet Explorer was once a day at 63.72%, according to Stat Counter data.
⇒ Chromium
It is also a browser, has a Chrome-like logo and is just as important. This is Chromium, the foundation for what Google Chrome is today. This open source project can be seen as the gateway to Chrome becoming the turning point, surpassing Internet Explorer and Firefox in just 4 years since its launch.
Chromium, which emerged in 2008, is an open-source project that, like any other project in this category, represents a product that collaborates with developers and companies around the world who want to contribute to the project, or even develop their own variations, with changes in design and structure.
In addition to Google Chrome, there are several other browsers that are based on Chromium: Opera, Vivaldi, Yandex Browser and even Microsoft Edge. Yes, Microsoft's new browser, which debuted with Windows 10, is being revamped with Chormium as its base.
Differences between Chrome and Chromium
Now that we think about what Chrome and Chromium are, let's talk about the main differences between them. Although related to other projects, Chromium is known for its performance as a web browser server, like Firefox, Opera, Safari, and of course Chrome.
Chrome, although it is based on Chromium, has significant differences with the project it launched. These differences even go through the market application. Although it is free, Google uses the market dominance of Google and its widely loved services, Gmail and Youtube, to get to know users better, using data clumps to refine their products and keep pace with the evolution of the web. This possibility jumps to privacy.
That's one of the reasons that passionate fans of open source culture will never point to Chrome as a viable browser to use. There are several alternatives that can guarantee privacy for the user, Chromium is one of them.
Chrome is originally an open source project, but Chrome is a product with development differences. While Chromium can count on collaboration from developers around the world, Chrome's enhancements and changes are promoted by Google's own proprietary engineers. This difference makes Chromium update more often than Chrome.
In contrast, Chrome updates are automatic, while in Chromium it is necessary to perform the action manually. This “manual” factor makes Chromium a better browser for those who want to know deeper features and expand browser possibilities, such as support for certain codecs. Codecs is perhaps the biggest limitation of Chromium, as it only supports open source codecs, following the design philosophy. Unlike Chrome which includes licensed codecs such as AAC and H.264.
The whole thing is this: Chrome has everything Chromium has, but Chromium doesn't have everything Chrome has, because of the differences in how both projects view the web, especially in terms of privacy.
Google is currently developing a series of new standards to ensure more privacy for users using their browser, a project called Privacy Sandbox. Like Chromium, this project will be open source.
