14 DAY TRIAL // The latest development milestone of Google Chrome pushes forward the integration of Adobe Flash into the open source browser. Version 5.0.375.3 of Chrome is currently being served through the Dev channel, but just to early adopters and developers running Windows. Although Google had apparently synchronized the development process of Chrome flavors for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, the latest Dev channel update is not offered for Apple’s OS or the open source platform.
According to Anthony Laforge, from the Google Chrome team, one of the most notable changes in Google Chrome 5.0.375.3 Dev for Windows is the fact that Flash is now enabled by default. Additional modifications involve: “implement patterns for content setting exceptions. [And] a nicer looking video scaling algorithm is now used,” according to Laforge.
For users unfamiliar with the evolution of Chrome 5, Google released Build 5.0.360.4 for Windows at the end of March 2010, applauding a move designed to kick up a notch support for Adobe Flash. The move is an integral part of broader efforts designed to revamp the traditional browser plug-in model, with companies such as Google and Mozilla focusing on overhauling the next-generation browser plug-in API (application programming interface).
The promise from Google is that the integration of Flash into Chrome means that all web-based Flash will run sandboxed, and that the plug-in will act more like a browser component such as the HTML and JavaScript rendering engines, rather than as an extension. The obvious advantages sought involve seamless rendering and scripting, but also increased security and stability.
In the initial version of Chrome with Flash integrated, the plug-in was turned off by default. At that time, customers needed to add --enable-internal-flash to their command line or shortcut for starting Chrome. With the availability of Google Chrome 5.0.375.3 Dev for Windows, this is no longer the case. Users will find that Flash in Chrome 5 Dev is now enabled from the get-go. The latest release of Google Chrome 5 is available for download here.