Chrome getting closer to OS X big time
Google has just released another upgrade to it’s Chrome developer-preview version for Mac OS X, clearly showing that the newest entry to the Apple browser wars is close to going to the big time.
Chrome 4.0.203.4 for the Mac is a very incremental release of the Google browser, containing a couple of fixes that are required by OS X Snow Leopard, but also showing the product is closer to going mainstream. Chrome started as a Windows-only product, but Google has been moving towards versions for OS X and Linux almost from the beginning. The Chrome version targeted at OS X is still in a developers preview version, but is rapidly gaining in sophistication according to a CNET article and may well be released in beta form shortly.
This latest version was specifically released to fix some bugs that cropped up while testing Chrome on Snow Leopard. One example is that sometimes, opening an English-language Web page resulted not in the expected text but instead in gibberish text. In many ways, the Chrome version for OS X is still at the level where such basic errors crop up. But, in other ways, the OS X version is beginning to reflect the sophistication of the Windows version.
The new OS X version is beginning to offer better support of command- and shift-clicking to open new tabs or bring up option menus. Another feature coming to the Mac version of Chrome is support for the tab-to-search feature in the Chrome omnibox. That feature lets you perform a Web site search directly from the address bar simply by typing a URL, for example blorge.com, then striking the tab key, then entering search terms, a very handy shortcut feature.
It seems that speed of operation is still an issue with the latest developer-preview version, and that there are still some fairly basic issues with things like interactions with other programs, even some from Google such as Gmail, where the combined interface does not work quite as expected. Still the OS X version of Chrome is improving rapidly and still seems to be a priority for Google. Just as Bing, in it’s new Yahoo-combined form, is pushing competition in the search field where Google is king, Google’s Chrome is beginning to push the traditional browsers on the Mac into a possible new competition for supremacy.
Related Posts:
