14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just announced the introduction of a new version of Google Chrome that would always go live before the main stable build.
The purpose of the newly-created “early stable” channel is as simple as it could be: to give Google more time to detect major bugs and issues, therefore making it possible to limit the damage if something goes wrong.
The new early stable channel will go live with the release of Chrome 110 next month, and Google explains that only a small percentage of users will receive it.
The early stable will always start rolling out one week before the main stable build.
“We are making a change to the release schedule for Chrome. From Chrome 110, the initial release date to stable will be one week earlier. This early stable version will be released to a small percentage of users, with the majority of people getting the release a week later at the normal scheduled date, this will also be the date the new version is available from the Chrome download page,” Google says.
Next month, the beta build of Google Chrome 110 will be released on January 12, while the early stable channel will be updated on February 1.
Chrome 110 will eventually start rolling out to users on February 7.
Google, however, doesn’t reveal how many users would receive the early stable builds of Google Chrome, but most likely, the stand-alone installers will still allow everybody out there to update to the latest version early.
“By releasing stable to a small percentage of users early, we get a chance to monitor the release before it rolls out to all of our users. If any showstopping issue is discovered, it can be addressed while the impact is relatively small,” Google says.