14 DAY TRIAL // New developer and beta versions of Google’s Chrome web browser have been released for Mac, Windows and Linux users. Jason Kersey and Anthony Laforge of the Google Chrome development team reveal that the Beta channel has been updated with crash and stability fixes, while the Dev channel adds VP8/WebM support for all platforms and other fixes and enhancements.
“Google Chrome 5.0.375.70 has been released to the Beta channel for Linux, Mac and Windows to fix some crash and stability issues,” a post signed Anthony Laforge, Google Chrome Team, reads. “If you spot any issues, please let us know,” Laforge adds, and hands users a link to the Google Code website.
In a similar manner, Google’s Jason Kersey reveals that, “The Dev channel has been updated to 6.0.422.0 for Mac, Linux, and Windows,” via a post on the Google Chrome Releases blog. Kersey points out to the changes shared by all three versions of the browser (Mac, Windows, and Linux), noting that VP8/WebM support has been added, while the crash when changing networks or waking from sleep has been addressed.
These being the only two issues in need of addressing for Windows PC users, Kersey moves on to the Mac-specific changes delivered in Google Chrome 6.0.422.0, which include a fixed crash when downloading a file with no tabs open, fixed idle renderer CPU usage regression, and a newly added preference for the tab key cycling between just form fields, or links. Additionally, Kersey notes, the download shelf now slides out instead of collapsing, this being one of the few UI changes listed in recent builds. For Linux users, the only change occurring in Chrome 6.0.422.0 is a fix for CUPS “add printer” crashing tabs.
Chrome for Mac requires an Intel machine running at least Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Beta, Developer and Stable versions of the browser are all available for download via the link below.