Download Google Chrome 3.0.198.1 for Mac OS X

The Google Chrome web browser has been updated for both Mac and Windows platforms, adding improvements as well as bug fixes and tweaks. Version 3.0.198.1 is freely available for download on Mac computers, right here on Softpedia.

According to the Google Chrome team, both Mac and Windows users of the browser will experience the following changes, after applying the 3.0.198.1 update.

-  Make New Tab Page load faster with custom themes
- Ensure downloads really stop when a user cancels
- Don't show themes in chrome://extensions/, since that page doesn't work well with them
- Theme the New Tab Page in incognito mode too
- Add a way to restore blacklisted thumbnails on the New Tab Page
- App mode and popup windows should not be themed

On the Mac front only, Google Chrome 3.0.198.1 equips Flash with mouse and key events so you can pause/play video, while forward/backward buttons now have history dropdown menus. Additionally, the arrow keys work again, the team of developers says.

Readers should note that the release is not appropriate for general consumer use. Several features, such as bookmarks, password import and certain privacy features, are unavailable at this time. Download Google Chrome “only if you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software,” warns the team of developers responsible with the web browser.

Google, as avid Softpedia readers should know, is also actively developing a Chrome OS, described as an open-source, lightweight operating system that will be targeted at netbooks upon its launch.

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS,” said Google’s Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management. “We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work,” Pichai concluded.

Download Google Chrome for Mac OS X (Free)