Google Chrome 2.0 preview is out!
Google pushed an impressive new Chrome update into the developer channel on Thursday. This experimental prerelease, which is labeled version 2.0.156.1, gives users a first look at some of the items that are the focus of the developers working on Chrome 2.0.
Chrome is an open source web browser that is built on Apple’s WebKit rendering engine. When Google launched the first release of Chrome last year, it was surprisingly polished but it lacked a handful of critical features. Google has moved swiftly to close the functionality gap by adding a bookmark manager and other improvements.
Unlike much of Google’s other software, Chrome didn’t stay in beta for very long. It got the 1.0 treatment last month and Google is already courting OEMs with the aim of getting it preinstalled on new PCs so it can reach users as soon as possible.
Now that the 1.0 version is out the door, Google is leaping ahead and beginning work on a major 2.0 release. The new version that was pushed into the developer channel on Thursday—which includes several significant rendering enhancements, new user interface features, augmented extensibility, and a number of other nice additions—demonstrates Google’s commitment to making Chrome a serious contender on the desktop.
Google makes Chrome available to end users through three separate channels: stable, beta, and developer preview. The stable channel, which is used by default, provides heavily tested, stable updates. The beta channel, which is generally updated on a monthly basis, has complete features that need widespread user testing before they are suitable for the stable channel. The developer preview channel, which is a bit like Mozilla’s Minefield builds, is used for testing experimental features that are not necessarily complete.
To switch to the beta or developer channel, users will need the Chrome Channel Changer tool, which is available from the Chromium web site. The new 2.0.x builds are currently only available through the developer channel.
Read More: Hands on: Google leaps forward with Chrome 2.0 dev. preview - Arstechnica.com
