The much anticipated Mac version of Chrome is here

Jun 5, 2009 10:23 GMT  ·  By

Mac fans, your wait is over! Google’s Chrome is finally available as a full-fledged application that you can download and install like any Mac app (no compiling necessary). However, before you do, please note that the software is highly unstable, and quite limited as far as its functionality is concerned. In short, Chrome for Mac is not to be relied upon.

Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg, Google Chrome product managers, updated the Chromium blog with a major announcement yesterday, saying “Danger: Mac and Linux builds available.”

“In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux,” the post reads. The duo then outlines: “...whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM! Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software.”

In case users need to know just how incomplete the software is, Mike and Karen reveal that “among other things, you won't yet be able to view YouTube videos, change your privacy settings, set your default search provider, or even print.” Google’s product managers promise to keep Chromium Blog readers up to date, hoping to be able to announce a more stable, beta version of Google Chrome for Mac and Linux.

One thing that distinguishes Google’s Chrome from other web browsers like Mozilla’s Firefox, or the feature-packed Opera is that it uses individual processes for each tab. This way, if a web page takes its toll on the browser, it will crash just the tab it was opened in, not the whole browser.  Another Chrome-specific feature is Incognito, which allows you to start a special browsing session with no preserved history, cookies etc. In simpler terms, as an Incognito user you won’t be leaving any tracks.

Before you download Chrome for Mac, take your time and read the red Warning sign. Be sure to use the comments and report your experience with Google Chrome.

Download Google Chrome for Mac OS X (Free)