December 12, 2008 by Matt Thomas
As of Today, Google have removed the beta tag from their Chrome browser, making the full version of Chrome 1.0 downloadable. At present, the full version only is only available to Windows users though Google programmers are thought to be hard at work on both Linux and Mac OS versions.
The removal of the beta tag puts Chrome under a lot of pressure to perform. The browser still has less than one per cent of overall market share, lagging way behind Firefox, Internet Explorer and even fringe browsers like Opera. The excuse thus far was that Chrome was still in the beta stage and hadn’t been aggressively promoted yet – now that the official version of Chrome is out, it will have to pick up users quickly to justify Google’s gamble.
Despite its current position, (near as makes no difference to the bottom of the browser league) few would bet against Chrome becoming a major player in the new year. The reason for this widespread optimism is the reported deals that Google have struck with a number of computer makers to have Chrome pre-installed on new PCs.
Google are hoping that by borrowing a trick from Microsoft, who until now have packaged their Internet Explorer browser with practically every new PC, they can replace them as the number one browser provider. The move is expected to work to an extent, since most people still simply use the browser they’re given.
However, it’s not 1995 anymore – more people than ever are aware of the alternatives. Google Chrome will have to be good in order to keep hold of its new users.
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