Saturday, December 13, 2008

Download Now!!! Chrome Out of Beta Soon, Mac Development Still Lagging Behind

Sources are reporting that, three months after its initial release on Windows platforms, Google's Chrome web browser looks pretty much finished. Anticipating the close release, we can't help but pointing out that the browser is still incompatible with Macs, despite promises that engineers “are working hard to bring it to [users] as soon as possible.”

The end of the summer marked the release of Google's highly anticipated, WebKit-based browser, Chrome. Shortly after its release, the Google team made it official that its engineers were actively working to bring the super-stable browser to Macs.

The team's statement went, “Google Chrome for Mac is in development and a team of engineers is working hard to bring it to you as soon as possible.” Google's VP of Product Management also noted that Chrome for Mac would launch to be even “faster” and “more robust” than the version available for Windows platforms at that time.

Rumors now claim that Google vice president, Marissa Mayer, revealed the company's intentions to release the final version of Chrome during an interview at a Parisian Web conference. A PC Advisor report says that PC and laptop makers are anxiously waiting for the big release so they can pre-install computers with Chrome, which would fall into place with Google's own plans.

Mac users shouldn't hold their breath for a beta release any time soon. Right now, “the Mac build is a work in progress,” according to the Chromium wiki, which offers instructions on how to build Chromium (the current dubbing for the Mac version of Chrome) on Mac OS X. “The TestShell project builds and is able to render web pages,” while “work has yet to begin on the user interface of the main Chromium application,” reveals the page where progress for the Mac version can be followed.

Mac users do have the option to download and try a free web browser that borrows some stuff from Google's Chrome. The application's name is Stainless, and it uses this multi-process feature that has processes working inside the browser side by side, increasing its stability. However, the free program comes short of features users would normally expect to find in a production-ready web browsing app, such as a bookmarks manager, font and text handling, page search, view source, and others.

We'll keep our eyes peeled for Chrome-for-Mac rumors and announcements, making sure you get the latest updates the instant they're disclosed.