Download Google Chrome 4.0.249.4 for Mac OS X

The Google Chrome Dev channel has been updated to version 4.0.249.4 for all platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), Anthony Laforge, Google Chrome program manager, has announced. On the Mac side, Chrome adds Silverlight plugin support, as well as bookmark bar improvements. Read on for the full scoop.

Mentioning the changes occurring for all platforms, Laforge lists a couple of fixed issues where some extensions crashed after installing version 4.0.249.0 of Chrome, and one where reload on crash infobar caused even more crashes. Windows-specific changes include fixed top windows crasher; fixed a crashing race condition in bookmark synchronization; visible character encoding indicator. Tab traversal in popups has also been fixed on Windows. Linux users should no longer see the browser crash after pasting some text into the Omnibox.

As noted above, Mac OS X users will now benefit from Silverlight plugin support, and they will see bookmark bar improvements as well. The Omnibox-pasting issue appears to have been plaguing OS X builds of the browser as well, with Chrome 4.0.249.4 fixing the bug on the Mac side too. A single known issue is listed by Google’s Program Manager – “Issue 27902: [Extension] Extension link on new tab page doesn't work properly.”

In addition to developing the Chrome web browser, Google is also working hard on an operating system bearing the Chrome label. Chrome OS will feature key aspects like speed, simplicity and security, according to Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google.

“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 said in a statement.

Download Google Chrome for Mac OS X (Free)