View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/12/10/google.chrome.leaving.beta/

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008 12:05pm

Google Chrome to leave beta...

Google's Chrome web browser is soon to exit beta thanks partly to a plan to expand its reach, company VP Marissa Miller has told TechCrunch at this year's Le Web conference in Paris. The WebKit-based browser has been relatively slow to gain share since its debut in September but will be marked as a finished product on an upcoming release to let PC makers bundle an officially completed version with their systems.

Which PC makers will opt for Chrome aren't named by Miller.

The expansion is a further blow to Microsoft, which through antitrust rulings is forced to allow default browsers besides Internet Explorer with new computers. These have typically been limited to Firefox and the now-defunct Netscape but will now potentially have a more commercially supported alternative that also emphasizes universal web standards, the historical weaknesses of Microsoft's browser.

Chrome is currently available only for Windows but is being ported to Linux and Mac OS X with an estimated launch early in 2009.