Just yesterday on December 11th, at exactly 10:00AM sharp; Google made an announcement in its official blog: We're excited to announce that with today's fifteenth release we are taking off the "beta" label (from Google Chrome)!
The first version released of open source web browser from Google is ready to be downloaded directly at its website.
Sundar Pichai, vice president of product development, told Rafe Needleman from Webware that this release of Chrome will have "tons and tons of bug fixes," especially around audio and video playback, which should now be "more stable."
And according to Google's official statement, they have made great progress on some areas which include:
- Better stability and performance of plug-ins (particularly video). Video and audio glitches were among the most common bugs fixed during the beta period.
- Even more speed. Since the first beta, the V8 JavaScript engine runs 1.4 times faster on the SunSpider benchmark and 1.5 times faster on the V8 benchmark — and there is more speed to come.
- Bookmark manager and privacy controls. It's now easier to switch between another browser and Google Chrome with the bookmark import and export features, and we added a new simple way to manage large numbers of bookmarks, too. We also wanted to make it even easier for you to control your browsing data, so all of the features in Google Chrome which affect user privacy are now grouped in one place with detailed explanations for each one.
- Better security. Google Chrome's unique sandbox technology creates an additional layer of defense against harmful software, while the Safe Browsing feature provides protection against phishing and malware attacks for many browser users.
Google also planning to develop Chrome in extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux. And for those who already have Chrome installed in their computers, the update system ensures that you get the latest bug fixes and security patches, so you will get the newest version automatically in the next few days.