Google Chrome Adds Extensions, Betas For Mac And Linux

Google has finally officially released beta version of the Chrome browser for both Linux and Mac platforms. The company has also officially announced the beta of extension for Google Chrome for Windows and Linux.

Google Chrome for Mac (Beta)
Google says they have worked hard on Google Chrome for Mac to get it right, and they also claim that it is much faster. Download Google Chrome for Mac

We’ve been working hard to deliver a first-class browser for the Mac — 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!

For more details on this beta release of Google Chrome for Mac, read on in the Google Mac blog or watch this video from one of our engineers, Mike Pinkerton:






Google Chrome for Linux (Beta)

Google enlisted the aid of more than 50 developers from the open source community to finally release their first Google Chrome Beta for Linux. The beta works with both  Gnome and KDE, and is updated via the normal system package manager. Google says the beta 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. Google invites you to download and try the Linux version of Google Chrome 

(note if you've already installed the dev channel version, you may need to uninstall that before installing the beta version -- we tried to make that work smoothly, but a few rough edges remain.)

Extensions in Google Chrome for Windows and Linux (Beta)

Google topped all the beta news with the most exciting feature, the addition of extensions for both the Windows and Linux platforms (sorry Mac guys). Extensions are one of the most requested features for Google Chrome and one of the main reasons I've been avoiding the browser.




Today Google officially opened the extension gallery, which, as of now, contains almost 400 extensions! Chrome users can browse and download extensions via the extension gallery. As of now they aren't categorized which makes browsing a bit painful, however its likely that Google will make the page a little more user friendly as more and more extensions are added.

For developers looking to build and upload an extension Google has listed a limited set of restrictions and says extensions will be available to users immediately will only a few manual reviews in limited situations.