14 DAY TRIAL // The Beta development milestone of the next major iteration of Google Chrome has received an update on November 11th, 2010, the second refresh since version 8.0 graduated to the Beta channel. Google Chrome 8.0.552.200 is now available for download through the Beta channel for testers running Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
According to Jason Kersey, from the Google Chrome team, Chrome 8.0.552.200 Beta doesn’t bring any new features to the table.
Instead, the latest Beta release of the open source browser has been produced in order to introduce a number of stability fixes.
In addition to the reliability bugs that have been resolved, the Mountain View-based search giant also delivered a number of user interface improvements.
It’s clear that Google is now focusing on polishing Chrome 8.0, as it is getting ready to release the final version of the browser to end users.
While there is no specific availability deadline for the final version of Chrome 8.0, it’s not that hard for users to do the math.
Google intends to ship major new versions of Chrome once every six weeks, give or take a little. Chrome 7.0 was released on October 19th, 2010, which could mean that users will get Chrome 8.0 by the end of November, or early December at the latest.
In parallel with Chrome 8.0, Google is also building Chrome 9.0, which is currently available to early adopters through the Dev Channel.
In fact, the Mountain View search giant refreshed Chrome 9.0 Dev two times this week alone, and is now up to Build 9.0.576.0, which was only served to testers running Windows and Linux.
Chrome 9.0.576.0 Dev was focused on offering fixes for a number of crashes, including:
“•Typing on a form with highlighted profile, keeps its highlighted value.
•Handle selection changes due to AutoFill more carefully. (Issue 58774)
•Autofill popup labels should reflect the contents of the HTML form,” explained Karen Grunberg, from the Google Chrome team.
Google Chrome for Windows is available for download here.
Google Chrome for Linux is available for download here.
Google Chrome for Mac is available for download here.