14 DAY TRIAL // Google is outpacing Mozilla when it comes down to embracing the latest iteration of the Windows client. In this regard, the most recent developer release of Google Chrome comes with support for one of the features specific to the Windows Aero graphical user interface in Windows 7. Users of the Mountain View-based search giant will notice that Google Chrome 3.0.197.11, a dev channel milestone, now sports Jumplists. Support for the Windows 7 feature in Chrome comes ahead of rival browsers, with Mozilla's Firefox 3.6 Alpha 1, released at the end of the past week, not bringing anything new in this respect on top of Firefox 3.5 GUI support.
Windows 7 Jumplists are essentially mini Start Menus available for each application that has been pinned to the evolved Taskbar of the operating system, also dubbed the Superbar. Accessible via a right click on the Chrome icon on the Windows 7 Superbar, the Jumplists offer easy access to recently visited and closed websites, as well as the possibility to launch two new tasks, a fresh browser window, or a new incognito window.
Jonathan Conradt, engineering program manager, confirmed officially through the changelog for Google Chrome 3.0.197.11 that support for Windows 7 Jumplists was introduced with the development milestone. Support came as Bug 8037 was resolved on August 4, 2009. “Enable JumpList by default on Windows 7. This change enables our custom JumpList by default, i.e. enables our custom JumpList when Chromium is launched without a "--disable-custom-jumplist" option,” reads the description of the bug.
According to Google, Bug 8037 came as a result of Issue 8037: Use Jumplists on Windows 7, which dates back to February 24th, 2009, over a month since Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 was launched with the new Windows Aero eye candy and features. So it took Google quite some time to start tailoring Chrome to Windows 7. But still, with Windows 7 scheduled for general availability on October 22, 2009, there is still plenty of time to adapt Chrome, or any browser for that matter, to Windows 7's Aero.
Conradt enumerated additional changes for Google Chrome 3.0.197.11:"
Crash fixes Bug 2993: Fix tabs getting "stuck" to your mouse and dragged out when under system load [r22024]. Bug 60: Make downloads removable from download shelf and download list [r22138]. Bug 17697: Properly unescape past searches in the Omnibox dropdown [r22167]. Bug 3641: Setting Chrome as default browser on multiple accounts in Vista should work [r22282]. Tweaks for new New Tab Page [r22316], [r22320], [r22337], [r22388], [r22428]. Bug 8037: Use jumplists on Windows 7 [r22375]. Bug 9985, 18271: Fixes for proxy users [r22430]. Rich text editors can now remove <s>, <u> and <strike> tags [Webkit r46286]."
The latest versions of Google Chrome are available for download here.
