10 ms·

Google Chrome Officially Out of Beta

50 points by mqt 18y ago

jacktasia 18y ago
I was hoping they would have a linux version out before it (windows version) was out of beta.
bprater 18y ago
Whoa. Didn't it just come out? I'm really, really surprised they haven't pushed out an official Mac version. Many techheads on the bleeding edge (and the ones that tend to push new technology) use the Macs.
- jwesley 18y ago
  Seriously, where is the Mac version? These are all your evangelists Google!
  - ObieJazz 18y ago
    Mac users don't need to be saved from IE.
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - maryrosecook 18y ago
      a) Why would Chrome, a browser that doesn't come bundled with PCs, save PC users from IE when they already have Firefox as an unbundled IE alternative? b) Chrome is not a competitor to IE or Firefox or Safari or any other traditional browser. It is a competitor to Windows and OS X and other operating systems that is being snuck in wearing a very unconvicing mask with a picture of a web browser on it.
      - Xichekolas 18y ago
        To answer your a)... Because most users don't think about their browser and hence use whatever the default is. OEMs will likely never bundle Firefox, but there is a chance that they'll bundle Chrome since it has Google's name behind it. Hence, Chrome rescues users (developers?) from IE. As for your b)... I agree totally. Chrome is nothing but an application delivery platform for Google apps that is disguised as a browser. Which is all the more motivation for Google to pursue bundling deals with OEMs.
      - ObieJazz 18y ago
        Why would Chrome save users from Windows when they already have Ubuntu as an unbundled Windows alternative? If the Google name gets people who currently use IE to try out something else, that's a win for web developers. Chrome is different than the other browsers in its slimmed-down interface, sure. But as other browsers, and the computers they run on, get faster and more compliant, the advantage that Chrome has over them as a client for web applications will erode. Apparently FFX 3.1 Beta 2 already has a faster js engine than Chrome's beta did.
  - river_styx 18y ago
    It's ironic, considering that the whole thing is based on WebKit, which is the rendering engine behind Safari and an OSS project spun off by Apple.
    - jcl 18y ago
      Is it then even more ironic that Apple used Konqueror's code to make WebKit, and that neither Safari nor Chrome are available for Linux?
      - donaq 18y ago
        Yes, it is. At first, I thought that maybe it's because Linux hackers weren't stepping up to help with the development efforts, but then I started wondering how many Windows hackers helped out with the Windows version.
  - blang 18y ago
    Maybe it's on the same dev cycle as Picasa for Mac.
joshwa 18y ago
And yet gmail is still in beta?
- Shamiq 18y ago
  I remember they had a piece talking about this. Something about beta meaning they would continue to add new features to it. So I'm guessing that Chrome will not see additional functionality. EDIT: Like he said...RTFA...
  - tsetse-fly 18y ago
    RTFA: "We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux."
    - transburgh 18y ago
      RFTA?
      - Shamiq 18y ago
        Read the F*n Article.
        judofyr 18y ago
        Read the Fun Article?
      - yters 18y ago
        Read the facts, again?
        yters 18y ago
        Radical turtles fight aliens? Man, this is hard.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
dmpayton 18y ago
How can it be out of beta when there is still no Mac or Linux version? Will those versions spend any time in a beta state? If the Mac and Linux versions are initially released as beta, it seems odd to me to have one product in differing states of 'completeness' on different platforms. However, I can't imagine that Google would give the Mac or Linux versions the gold star seal of approval right off the bat. Does anyone know about the status of the non-Windows versions of Chrome? It'd really be nice to use it, but I use a MacBook Pro at work and Ubuntu on my dsktop at home.
nickb 18y ago
Google desperately wants browser marketshare. My guess is that by taking it out of beta and announcing an official version 1.x as stable, they'll be able to finalize few distribution deals with PC OEMs. OEMs don't like shipping beta stuff (even though some stuff they ship is worse than most betas you'd try from MS or Google) so this will pacify them. In short, this is just a marketing move on their part... don't read much into tech side of things at all.
- peregrine 18y ago
  Exactly. I love chrome and can't wait for the plugins, scripts and Linux ports. Minimalist: Check Fast: Check Secure: Check Its a win for me, Firefox is great and I will always love it but I could never get a good theme for Firefox that would return my screen and I never liked the download manager, and the bloat. Chrome was a dream come true.
  - ii 18y ago
    Check Chromifox 2 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9427 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9427 I was fooled by good Chrome UI design myself, but after careful tweaking of Firefox with good theme and plugins I just can't use Chrome, I switched back to Firefox completely, it's so much better in every way...
  - light3 18y ago
    I find chrome has a few problems, firstly it can start to perform very badly when many tabs are open - a bit buggy, and secondly it does not display as many pages correctly as firefox. All in all I love the speed of chrome - but reliability of firefox is still a very big + for me.
  - jodrellblank 18y ago
    What do you mean "secure"? Secure between (you, Google) and (World), perhaps, but I'm not sure that's quite the same thing.
sgibat 18y ago
I was a little confused about how it could be out of beta without any steps up to this, but apparently it auto-updates without asking or telling. Not complaining, but that's news to me.
- visitor4rmindia 18y ago
  It didn't do the auto-update thing for me. If it doesn't for you either you can go to "Tools" (the little spanner icon)--> "About"-->"Check for updates" and it'll install the latest version.
MikeCapone 18y ago
Doesn't seem to have fixed the problem where your hard-drive keeps chugging along for as long as Chrome is open.. I hope they'll get to that soon, or at least, that it won't be a problem on the Mac version.
tlrobinson 18y ago
Shortest Google "beta" period ever? Now, OS X please :)
gibsonf1 18y ago
They have a bug that makes chrome unusable for me, and its still there. You simply cannot save a file from Chrome if a file of the same name already exists. It cannot overwrite. Geez.
sh1mmer 18y ago
May this mark an end to the ridiculous trends of perpetual betas.
eli_s 18y ago
Memory usage is amazing in chrome. I've recently been comparing footprint on exactly the same tasks with my own web app. Chrome < 30mb, IE 7 fully patched XP > 160mb, FF ~80mb. I'm still using FF as my default but may be switching soon ;) I'm jealous of the next generation of web developers who will (hopefully) work in a web environment with lots of competition and not so much of a browser monopoly!

50 points by mqt 18y ago

I was hoping they would have a linux version out before it (windows version) was out of beta.

Whoa. Didn't it just come out? I'm really, really surprised they haven't pushed out an official Mac version. Many techheads on the bleeding edge (and the ones that tend to push new technology) use the Macs.

jwesley 18y ago
Seriously, where is the Mac version? These are all your evangelists Google!
- ObieJazz 18y ago
  Mac users don't need to be saved from IE.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - maryrosecook 18y ago
    a) Why would Chrome, a browser that doesn't come bundled with PCs, save PC users from IE when they already have Firefox as an unbundled IE alternative? b) Chrome is not a competitor to IE or Firefox or Safari or any other traditional browser. It is a competitor to Windows and OS X and other operating systems that is being snuck in wearing a very unconvicing mask with a picture of a web browser on it.
    - Xichekolas 18y ago
      To answer your a)... Because most users don't think about their browser and hence use whatever the default is. OEMs will likely never bundle Firefox, but there is a chance that they'll bundle Chrome since it has Google's name behind it. Hence, Chrome rescues users (developers?) from IE. As for your b)... I agree totally. Chrome is nothing but an application delivery platform for Google apps that is disguised as a browser. Which is all the more motivation for Google to pursue bundling deals with OEMs.
    - ObieJazz 18y ago
      Why would Chrome save users from Windows when they already have Ubuntu as an unbundled Windows alternative? If the Google name gets people who currently use IE to try out something else, that's a win for web developers. Chrome is different than the other browsers in its slimmed-down interface, sure. But as other browsers, and the computers they run on, get faster and more compliant, the advantage that Chrome has over them as a client for web applications will erode. Apparently FFX 3.1 Beta 2 already has a faster js engine than Chrome's beta did.
- river_styx 18y ago
  It's ironic, considering that the whole thing is based on WebKit, which is the rendering engine behind Safari and an OSS project spun off by Apple.
  - jcl 18y ago
    Is it then even more ironic that Apple used Konqueror's code to make WebKit, and that neither Safari nor Chrome are available for Linux?
    - donaq 18y ago
      Yes, it is. At first, I thought that maybe it's because Linux hackers weren't stepping up to help with the development efforts, but then I started wondering how many Windows hackers helped out with the Windows version.
- blang 18y ago
  Maybe it's on the same dev cycle as Picasa for Mac.

joshwa 18y ago

And yet gmail is still in beta?

Shamiq 18y ago
I remember they had a piece talking about this. Something about beta meaning they would continue to add new features to it. So I'm guessing that Chrome will not see additional functionality. EDIT: Like he said...RTFA...
- tsetse-fly 18y ago
  RTFA: "We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux."
  - transburgh 18y ago
    RFTA?
    - Shamiq 18y ago
      Read the F*n Article.
      - judofyr 18y ago
        Read the Fun Article?
    - yters 18y ago
      Read the facts, again?
      - yters 18y ago
        Radical turtles fight aliens? Man, this is hard.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

dmpayton 18y ago

How can it be out of beta when there is still no Mac or Linux version? Will those versions spend any time in a beta state? If the Mac and Linux versions are initially released as beta, it seems odd to me to have one product in differing states of 'completeness' on different platforms. However, I can't imagine that Google would give the Mac or Linux versions the gold star seal of approval right off the bat. Does anyone know about the status of the non-Windows versions of Chrome? It'd really be nice to use it, but I use a MacBook Pro at work and Ubuntu on my dsktop at home.

nickb 18y ago

Google desperately wants browser marketshare. My guess is that by taking it out of beta and announcing an official version 1.x as stable, they'll be able to finalize few distribution deals with PC OEMs. OEMs don't like shipping beta stuff (even though some stuff they ship is worse than most betas you'd try from MS or Google) so this will pacify them. In short, this is just a marketing move on their part... don't read much into tech side of things at all.

peregrine 18y ago
Exactly. I love chrome and can't wait for the plugins, scripts and Linux ports. Minimalist: Check Fast: Check Secure: Check Its a win for me, Firefox is great and I will always love it but I could never get a good theme for Firefox that would return my screen and I never liked the download manager, and the bloat. Chrome was a dream come true.
- ii 18y ago
  Check Chromifox 2 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9427 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9427 I was fooled by good Chrome UI design myself, but after careful tweaking of Firefox with good theme and plugins I just can't use Chrome, I switched back to Firefox completely, it's so much better in every way...
- light3 18y ago
  I find chrome has a few problems, firstly it can start to perform very badly when many tabs are open - a bit buggy, and secondly it does not display as many pages correctly as firefox. All in all I love the speed of chrome - but reliability of firefox is still a very big + for me.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  What do you mean "secure"? Secure between (you, Google) and (World), perhaps, but I'm not sure that's quite the same thing.

sgibat 18y ago

I was a little confused about how it could be out of beta without any steps up to this, but apparently it auto-updates without asking or telling. Not complaining, but that's news to me.

visitor4rmindia 18y ago
It didn't do the auto-update thing for me. If it doesn't for you either you can go to "Tools" (the little spanner icon)--> "About"-->"Check for updates" and it'll install the latest version.

MikeCapone 18y ago

Doesn't seem to have fixed the problem where your hard-drive keeps chugging along for as long as Chrome is open.. I hope they'll get to that soon, or at least, that it won't be a problem on the Mac version.

tlrobinson 18y ago

Shortest Google "beta" period ever? Now, OS X please :)

gibsonf1 18y ago

They have a bug that makes chrome unusable for me, and its still there. You simply cannot save a file from Chrome if a file of the same name already exists. It cannot overwrite. Geez.

sh1mmer 18y ago

May this mark an end to the ridiculous trends of perpetual betas.

eli_s 18y ago

Memory usage is amazing in chrome. I've recently been comparing footprint on exactly the same tasks with my own web app. Chrome < 30mb, IE 7 fully patched XP > 160mb, FF ~80mb. I'm still using FF as my default but may be switching soon ;) I'm jealous of the next generation of web developers who will (hopefully) work in a web environment with lots of competition and not so much of a browser monopoly!