Filed under: Software, Freeware, Developer
Chrome for Mac due in December?
I sure thought Google Chrome was already out for Mac, but apparently that was just a developer preview -- they haven't yet done an official release (it's been a tough road to travel, I guess). But the wait is almost over, according to Mashable. They've spotted a message on a developer list that hints at a beta release as soon as this December, assuming the extensions team gets their BrowserActions ready, the code clears the appointed timelines, and the stars align over the Pegasus constellation in the fifth quadrant. (Can you tell I don't know anything about what it takes to ship a new browser? Or, for that matter, about astrology?)
But I do know something about using browsers, and it'll be nice to finally have an official version of Chrome to run on the Mac. There have been a couple of unofficial attempts at getting the base software running, but especially since I plan to use more and more of Google Wave, being able to run it in the "official" Google browser will be nice.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kmcgrady90 said 1:18PM on 11-12-2009
The developer preview has been out for a while now. It was reported on TUAW.
A BETA version should help increase adoption though.
Although Chrome is fast I can't use any browser other than Safari. I just love the bookmark management and the way it is built into the window. I hate managing bookmarks on all other browsers. I used the dev version of Chrome for a while and it was good though. Competition is always good for us consumers.
Reply
Jeff Wheeler said 1:18PM on 11-12-2009
Typical professionalism has an author research the topic before writing about, rather than babbling on about how they have no idea what they're being paid to write about.
Reply
humhaa said 1:22PM on 11-12-2009
It's about time! The dev preview isn't too bad, but I often find myself defaulting back to Firefox or Safari.
Reply
Doug S. said 1:50PM on 11-12-2009
Couple of things:
(1) The dev release is "official". It's the official public release on the dev channel. Googe has three channels: developer, beta, stable. They now have a stable, dev build so that's official. December should see a stable beta build.
(2) Google said they were planning on releasing a beta before 2010, which leaves December as the deadline. They said this a few months ago when they missed the "before the first half of 2009" deadline, which was after they missed the "before the end of March 2009" deadline.
That all being said, I'm not holding my breath. Google has missed a number of it's own deadlines (not including the three months after the Windows launch one that they've missed by almost a year) so if they miss this one I won't be too bothered. I want Chrome for Mac, badly, but I'm quickly losing hope that I'll see it before the year is out.
Reply
nstick13 said 2:26PM on 11-12-2009
I doubt Chrome comes with an Add-On to block Google Ads, like Safari or Firefox.
Wave will be great in it though, and I may use it as an "App" for Google Wave; i.e. it's always open and that's all it does.
Reply
Josh said 2:49PM on 11-12-2009
if you have a google wave referal I would love one,
joshthepants@gmail.com
Reply
Monica said 4:00PM on 11-12-2009
My experience with Chrome has been pretty hit and miss. In some ways its actually a great browser, and seems lighter and faster then Firefox if only by a little. I love how each tab takes up its own instance. However for some reason I've been getting lots of hang ups and crashes.
As for it coming to OSX? I don't know how well it will compete with Safari or if it will be stable enough to make people want to change.
Monica S
Los Angeles Computer Repair
http://www.sebecomputercare.com/?p=1178
Reply
pjm said 5:57PM on 11-12-2009
If you're going to be using Wave extensively I think Chrome is pretty much essential: in any browser Wave is a stinking great memory hog, but it only fills a single pen when run in Chrome. Half a gigabyte in Safari can come up after viewing a single large Wave containing a couple of gadgets: not very sociable! Not everything works properly when using Firefox. Doubtless things will settle a little with time, but for now it feels optimised for Chrome.
Sorry, no invites available from this source...
Reply
Zactu said 5:57AM on 11-13-2009
I use Chromium on my Ubuntu PC and it is fast, takes alot less CPU cycles, and if flash is chewing your CPU, it's very easy to kill just the flash process. I like how you can pin a tab I (not many do this), I prefer the bookmarking, and I get more vertical screen space.
If Chromium comes to Mac, I my replace Safari.
Reply
Rembert said 7:34AM on 11-13-2009
I prefer to use google wave on Chrome (os-x), it's a lot quicker than on Firefox or Safari. The Chrome dev. release is running stable and only occasionally something seems rendered wrong. But I still use Firefox as my main browser. Safari 2nd and Chrome & Camino as 3rd.
Reply
Derek said 1:21PM on 11-13-2009
More and more Google is becoming like Microsoft.
They're entering the browser market at a financial loss, simply to dominate the market that's already saturated with too many browsers.
Either (1) Chrome will be identical to other webkit browsers, and thus completely unnecessary and that much more Microsoftian, or (2) it will be rendered using highly customized underpinnings to promote other Google products like Docs - in which case it's a whole new PIA for developers to work with.
I used Chrome on Windows and personally I hated it. It was ugly and for me hard to use. The big thing they say about it is speed but at mere milliseconds faster, for me, it doesn't make it better.
Reply
AJL said 1:07AM on 11-17-2009
What's the big deal anyway? It's just a new front end on Webkit with a competing Javascript interpreter, a multithreading system that some people prefer but I find a memory waster and half the functionality of Safari. Konquerer and Apple already did all the real work, Google just repackaged it and put out a web comic. I've had Safari for years but it takes some Google release for Windows users to see that faster browsing is possible - but as a Mac user, why should I care whether Google wants to grace me with its presence?
Google can take its version of Safari, its version of Linux and its mobile Linux to somebody else's computer, I prefer mine working.
Reply