Download Google Chrome 5.0.342.5

A new development release of Google Chrome is now available for download, offered on the same day when Microsoft released the Platform Preview of Internet Explorer 9. Chrome 5.0.342.5 is being offered to early adopters through the Mountain View-based search giant’s Dev channel, and is the second update to the next major version of the open source browser in less than a week, since the availability of v5.0.342.3. Of course, testers and developers should be already familiar with the rapid pace of Chrome development releases by now, with small build increments that deliver small arrays of fixes.

It is also the case of Chrome 5.0.342.5, which is synonymous with a number of bugs having been resolved. Mark Larson, from the Google Chrome Team, chose to emphasize that the latest build of the open source browser featured improvements to the quality of the Autofill form, but also additional ones.

Earlier this week, Google also kicked up a notch the Beta development build of Chrome. Just a day ahead of the release of 5.0.342.5, the company offered testers Chrome 4.1.249.1036 Beta. However, unlike the Dev channel release, for which launches are synchronized for all supported platforms, including Mac OS X and Linux, the Beta flavor of the browser is only updated for Windows users.

Considering the latest announcements from Microsoft related to the evolution of Internet Explorer, Google will not have an easy ride ahead on the browser market. The Redmond company has labored intensely to bring IE9 on par with its rivals, and, according to IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch, Internet Explorer 9 almost closes the gap separating it from Chrome in terms of JavaScript performance, rendering useless one of the claims of Google’s superiority for its own breed of open source browser.

The latest release of Google Chrome 5.0 is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview is available for download here.