14 DAY TRIAL // Google Chrome has been around for more than a year, yet only now it has become a real alternative to Firefox. People loved Chrome's speed and innovative interface, but a few major flaws and missing features prevented most of them from switching. With every release things got better and the last major hurdles are now gone as Chrome has finally gotten extension support in the stable version, Chrome 4.0.249.78, a little over a month after it introduced it in the beta version. That's not all, Chrome stable also gets bookmark sync, better HTML5 support and some hefty performance improvements to boot.
"We're excited to usher in the new year with a bundle of browser goodness for the stable version of Google Chrome. With today's new stable release, all Google Chrome users on PCs can access over 1,500 new features, through our new extension system," Nick Baum, product manager at Google wrote.
"Extensions are little programs, created by developers, which add useful functionality to the browser and to the websites you visit. Some provide you with alerts and notifications, others let you easily access your favorite web services from icons next to your address bar, and there are lots more," he explained
Chrome has had some support for extensions for more than half a year now, but for the most part, this was exclusive to the developer builds, the more experimental releases. Firefox, of course, has had add-ons for years now and they have proven to be probably its greatest single feature and the main reason why people stay with Mozilla's web browser even if they really like some of the features in Chrome or other browsers.
In a way, Mozilla has done for Firefox what Microsoft has done for Windows, a sprawling app ecosystem making it almost impossible for people to leave the platform for fear of losing all of their favorite add-ons or software as the case may be.
Last month, extension support was introduced to the Chrome beta builds, aimed at more advanced users or those who don't mind the occasional hiccup, along with the launch of the official extensions gallery. Since then, over 1,500 extensions have been added to the online repository and Google thought it was time to let everyone enjoy the feature by introducing it to the stable branch. You'll find alternatives for most of the popular Firefox add-ons, like ad-blockers and IE tab, but it’s definitely not as extensive as Mozilla's add-ons gallery. It's only been a month since launch though, and the platform seems to be picking up Steam so this may change soon enough.
Not as big a feature as extensions perhaps, bookmark syncing also makes it to the stable build after several months of development. The feature enables users to keep their bookmarks synchronized across all computers they use. Again, it's not as powerful as the Weave Sync add-on for Firefox which also syncs settings and preferences, but it's a good start and those who constantly find themselves using different computers will appreciate it.
The latest Chrome stable build also gets better HTML5 support with several new APIs being available to developers, like LocalStorage, Database API, WebSockets and others. Finally, Chrome 4 is also significantly faster than previous stable release, scoring 42 percent more in Mozilla's Dromeao DOM Core Tests than Chrome 3. This is one area where Chrome beats Firefox hands down as, even with the latest improvements in Firefox 3.6, Mozilla's browser is still a lot slower than Chrome. Linux and Mac users only got a Chrome beta release last month and a stable one is still out of the picture, though this shouldn't be for too much longer.