Google Chrome coming out of beta

Filed under: Windows, Google, Beta, Browsers

Google Chrome coming out of beta

by Brad Linder Dec 10th 2008

Google is preparing to take the beta label off of a product in what must be record time. Google's Marissa Mayer tells TechCrunch's Mike Arrington that the Google Chrome web browser will come out of beta soon, just three months after the product was first released as a public beta. By contrast, Gmail, which was launched more than 4 years ago is still in beta.

So what's behind the move? Does it mean that Google Chrome is a highly polished product that has been extensively tested? Well kind of. But the same is true of Gmail. No, the decision is apparently based on the fact that a number of hardware manufactures would like to preload the web browser on their systems and they don't want to do that with a beta product.

In other words, the change is more about semantics than anything else. Google will continue releasing updates and improvements to Chrome after the first official relase. But you also might find the browser preinstalled on your next computer.

There's still no word on when a version of Google Chrome will be available for Mac or Linux.

Tags: google-chrome, web-browsers

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Josh Anderson said 10:47AM on 12-10-2008

Wow, Google taking the beta tag off something!?

Very unlike them lol

robotrock said 11:00AM on 12-10-2008

"Rushing" a product out while it is missing some basic functionality is probably not a smart move.

However, I'm a nobody and Google is so they must be onto something!

yownj said 11:51AM on 12-10-2008

i still prefer firefox, as hibernater can support it. haha

Brian said 11:53AM on 12-10-2008

i wish they would hurry up and get the linux version out

Andrew said 1:23PM on 12-10-2008

I love how Gmail is still in Beta, yet Chrome just appears overnight and gets a final release.

Vadi said 1:50PM on 12-10-2008

Erm... no Linux or Mac versions as rightfully pointed out in the article, and they consider it out of beta?

Okay... Google's beta status really went from "indefinite" to "undefined".

mer2329 said 12:38PM on 12-10-2008

if you want a linux or mac version the quickest way would be to port it to your platform if you dont know how to do that ask for help or maybe you could find an already ported version (by the way i dont know how so dont ask me)
heres the project behind chromes google code page
http://code.google.com/chromium/
just to get you started

Vadi said 1:55PM on 12-10-2008

Uh... thanks. But just because I'm on Linux, doesn't mean that I'm a l33t hacker who knows how to port web browsers or has the willingness to.

chrisjsimon said 9:57PM on 12-10-2008

As much as I love Chrome, I still do have problems with it, one of them is crashing whenever I try to download a file, then before I even choose which folder to save it in - BOOM! It crashes.

I'm using Chrome now, clearly because I'm not downloading anything. I love its simplicity, its uncluttered design, its fast startup and response, but the crashing is a little disheartening.

So whenever it happens I use either Opera or Firefox :}

mike k. said 11:11AM on 12-11-2008

but still not to the mac?

Jim Littlefield said 11:31AM on 12-13-2008

I thought Google BETA was part of their brand?!

The GMail team is wonder what they have to do to jump the BETA fence.

But then there is Google GrandCentral, I haven't heard a peep from them since Google acquired them. It's a great service but my expectations of what is next go up every month nothing happens.

No complaints here though. Beta or not Google's products are awesome!

Twitter:JimLittlefield

fikel said 3:59PM on 1-16-2009

Well, Google did release the non-beta version of it, and I have to say that it is better than Firefox. I use Ubuntu 8.10 and Windows Vista, and it works perfectly on both! Yes, I did a lot of searching on google, and i found out something for Wine that introduces Google chrome to linux. It is called Crossover Chromium.

Google it. Oh yea, do not use it as your default Web Browser!

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