Non-Windows users have been poking and prodding Google for quite some time now, wondering when they would be able to get their hands on an actual Google-branded browser for their operating systems. You may not have to wait too much longer

Google has taken the wraps off the alpha versions for Mac and Linux! In the official blog post, however, Google advises that you don't download the alpha unless you have a browser deathwish. Which you do, so the download links are at the bottom of this page.

I'm wondering what took so long, especially on Linux where the coders behind the PPA for Ubuntu Chromium have been hard at work. The open source project has been usable for quite some time, and I've been running it in Crunchbang and Ubuntu for almost two months. Considering its supposed alpha state, the core of the browser is very stable and feels just as fast as its Windows cousin.

Sandboxing has caused a bit of a hangup on Linux, plugins are not yet supported, and the options screen is MIA as well. Ok, so there's plenty of work to be done, but it's serviceable, and has been fun to use for weeks.

Those same features won't be working in Chrome, either, so don't expect to be able to do all your typical web browsing. No plugin support means no Flash, so YouTube and most of our addictive Time Wasters are all out of the question. Update: the options page is there in Chrome, and it's (partially) working!

It's a start at least, and shows that Google is, in fact, going to deliver a finished browser at some point.

Hey, they only promised "sometime in the middle of 2009," after all, and we're not quite there yet.

Linux gallery coming up after the break!

[via CNet]