Google expands Chrome browser to Mac and Linux OS

Google has released a beta version of its much awaited web browser Chrome for the Mac, OSX and Linux platforms. 

In a blogpost, Brian Rakowski, Product Manager for Chrome said that a lot of hard work had gone into delivering Chrome as a a first-class browser for the Mac, adding that “it took longer than we expected, but we hope the wait was worth it! We wanted Google Chrome to feel at home on the Mac, so we've focused on uniting our clean, simple design with subtle animations and effects to create a snappy and satisfying browsing experience on OS X.  As you might expect, the speed of Google Chrome for Mac is something we're very proud of. If you have a Mac, try installing the beta and see how fast it launches — there's hardly even time for the icon in the dock to bounce!”

Chrome's Window's version was released in September 2008 and versions for other platforms have been sometime in the making. The Google Mac Blog says that it took 73,804 lines of Mac-specific code and 29 developer builds  to finally release Google Chrome for Mac in beta. The post says that Google also took great care to make Google Chrome a native application for Mac, such as integrating the Keychain into Google Chrome for Mac and incorporating Mac-style animations when you open the Bookmarks bar.

Rakowski said most Google engineers use Linux machines, so there was a fair amount of demand for a Linux version of the browser within the company as well. In the blog, he says, “we focused on speed, stability and security, but we also wanted a high-performance browser that integrated well with the Linux ecosystem. This includes tight integration with native GTK themes, updates that are managed by the standard system package manager, and many other features that fit in natively with the operating system where possible.” He said that Google had a lot of help from the open source community, with over 50 open source contributors working on Chromium. Acknowledging their contribution, he candidly admits on the blog post, “they've been especially helpful on delivering our Linux version of Google Chrome.” Google Chrome works with both Gnome and KDE and is updated via the normal system package manager. Google says it has been developed as a true open source project, using public mailing lists, IRC channels, bug tracker, code repository, and continuous build and test farm -- following in large part the trail blazed by Mozilla. 

Google's blog post also announced the launch of around 300 extensions for both Windows PC and Linux which included some cool, useful and cute extensions . Extensions for the Mac lag in this department as they “aren't quite beta-quality on Mac yet” Rakowski said.