Chutneytech | UK Technology News

Google have brought their browser, Chrome, out of Beta status.  But wait a minute, the browser was only launched 100 days ago…doesn’t that seem a little fast to be pulling the software out of Beta labelling?

Take a look at Gmail.  That is still a Beta project and it’s been with us for four years.  Picasa, the photo editing software, another Google endeavour, only got rid of its Beta label close to four years after the company purchased it.  It’s pretty clear that Google likes to take their time over their software testing to make sure everything is perfect.

So what has happened with Chrome?  Google is so hell-bent on testing their products to the max, yet Chrome has only been on public release for three months.  Google claim that they are “excited” about removing the Beta tag from Chrome.

But why?  The company are claiming that the time is right, although there is still more that can be done, saying, “We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done.”

But, if it is not finished yet, then it still doesn’t make any sense to release the software from its Beta ties.  The company went on to claim that the Chrome browser was going to feature more utilities along the way, saying, “We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. We are also developing an extensions platform along with support for Mac and Linux.”

Maybe the pressure has gotten too much for them over at Google.  With the success of Firefox and Internet Explorer, Chrome is still trying to win over browser users worldwide.  However, they claim that 10 million users have downloaded the software and are actively using it.

Critics are also slamming Google for lifting the Beta tag in an attempt to boost market shares.  According to Net Applications, the Chrome browser holds a mere 0.83 per cent of the browser market as of November, and it is not hard to believe when the competition is so fierce among browsers.  And not many people are eager to switch browsers when they are so comfortable with the ones they currently use.

However, Google are sure that by removing the Beta tag, more companies will be interested in installing the software on their computers and Google are even planning on paying PC makers to install the Chrome browser onto the computers before being shipped out.

Google are still, however, claiming that the browser is ready to be of non-Beta stature as they claim that the performance has significantly been improved since its launch three months ago.  The company claimed that, “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.”

Google has released a huge amount of updates for the browser – 14 in total.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Software Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.