Google Releases Chrome Beta for Linux, Mac

More than a year after Google released the Chrome browser, the company has announced versions for Linux and Macs.

Chrome has been available to PC users for well over a year. Released in September of 2008, Google has long promised Mac users a version of the browser. Today, Brian Rakowski, Product Manager at Google, made good on those promises, announcing a version for both Mac and Linux machines while admitting that the whole thing had "taken longer than they expected."

Rakowski doesn't go into a lot of detail regarding the Mac version, other than to sing the praises of how fast Chrome for Mac launches. "(…) see how fast it launches — there's hardly even time for the icon in the dock to bounce!" But, the Googler is a lot wordier when it comes to the Linux version.

"At Google, most engineers use Linux machines, so we certainly heard loud and clear how much they wanted Google Chrome for Linux," Rakowski writes, adding that speed, stability and security remained top priorities for the Linux build. Brian promises Linux users 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."

Check out the full post here.