For now, Google is actually asking users not to download Chrome for the Mac and Linux just yet, unless they are ready to be disappointed. If you're brave though, here is the download link.

Overall, while it is nice to see that Google is ready to show some official Chrome builds for Mac and Linux, if our own experience with Chromium is any indication, this release will be fast and usable - but chances are that it will also crash regularly. As this is a dev channel release, Google will probably push out an update at least once a week, and it will be interesting to watch how the development progresses.

Google has clearly started to make some in-roads with Chrome. Here at RWW, about 8% of all our visitors use Chrome (up from around 6% in January). From what we can see, it has mostly taken away user share from Firefox, which is interesting, given the close relationship between Mozilla and Google. Given how many RWW readers use Macs (about 20% of you), we expect Chrome's percentage to go up quickly on our site and others like it.

What Else is Missing?

One other feature we really miss from Chrome is RSS feed autodiscovery. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have had this feature for quite a while now. As Google Reader is one of the most popular web-based RSS readers,integrating it tighter into the browser would only help Google in the long run.

Also, as Corvida points out, Google could integrate a lot of its other services closer into the browser. Why, for example, doesn't a search for an address bring up Google Maps immediately?

What Do You Miss?

Are there any features you really miss in Google Chrome that stop you from switching? Let us know in the comments.

While we wondered if Google was getting ready to make extensions a part of the stable series soon, it now turns out that this feature won't arrive in the stable version of Chrome until version 4.0. If you feel adventurous, you could always switch to the dev channel.

Goolge has now released a patch for this issue. If you want to make sure your browser is up-to-date, click through for the instructions.

According to researcher, Roi Saltzman, a malicious attacker can use three separate issues in parts of Chrome to create attacks that endanger users who surf to a malicious web site using Internet Explorer. Chrome program manager, Mark Larson, explains that the flaw could have caused Google Chrome to "launch, open multiple tabs, and load scripts that run after navigating to a URL of the attacker's choice." (Yes, it seems that to get the malicious code working, a user would still need to be surfing with IE.)

How to Fix Your Copy of Chrome

Now that a patch is available, you can update Google Chrome on your own. Even if you never run IE, it's always a good idea to have the latest version of Chrome installed. Although Google says that the browser will update itself automatically, on my machine, the update had not yet taken place on my ever-open copy of Chrome - I had to force the update manually.

If you want to do the same, you'll need to first click on the Settings menu in Chrome. This is the menu to the right of the address bar which is identified with an icon resembling a wrench. In that menu, click the option "About Google Chrome." If you need the update, it will begin automatically. Once complete, you'll be prompted to close and then reopen the browser for the update to finish installing.

To be extra sure that the update took, you can return to that menu option after relaunching Chrome and make sure that the version number reads 1.0.154.59.

Chrome is deliciously fast compared to other browsers, but the very limited extension support and ecosystem are hard for Firefox-lovers to swallow. Firefox advocates always question Chrome converts about just how fast Chrome will be when it gets weighed down with extensions. It looks like we're about to find out.

We wrote about some of the first unofficial extensions to hit Chrome this Spring and then some code upgrades intended to shore up extension support this Fall. An unofficial directory of Chrome extensions can be found at ChromeExtensions.org. Install them with caution, it's not yet as simple as managing Firefox extensions is.

What's your #1 request for a Chrome extension? I want Firefox Drag and Drop Zones or the GCal pop-up plug-in for Chrome. Greasemonkey would be nice too, though user scripts can be added manually to Chrome already.

And I want it to sing with speed, just like Chrome does today!

In addition, Google has also added some new features for extension developers, including the ability to "load an extension and pack an extension" more conveniently.

A small ecosystem of Chrome extensions is already growing up around Chrome, even though only a small number of Chrome users are currently able to use them. Once Google enables these extensions for all users, they will be able to use a wide range of them. The absence of extensions has held back a lot of users who may want to use Chrome but rely on certain extensions. Now, however, it looks like it's only a matter of time before all Google Chrome users will be able to tap into this growing extension ecosystem.

Given how stable both the beta and developer channel versions of Chrome on Windows are at this point, we hope that Google will soon upgrade the stable version to the 3.x or 4.x series, as they offer a lot more functionality. The Mac and Linux versions are currently still somewhat unstable, but at least the Mac version has now become quite usable.

Since the first beta release, Google has focused on fixing stability issues (especially with regards to playing Flash video), sped up the already fast V8 JavaScript engine, and added a better bookmark manager and privacy controls.

According to Google, the next step in the development of Chrome will be the addition of an extension architecture similar to Firefox's. Google is also planning to release Mac and Linux versions soon.

Lots of Users Already

Here at RWW, about 5.2% of our readers used Chrome in November (which is down from the 6.3% we saw when it launched in September and a lot of folks decided to give it a try) and a lot of our writers also use it on a daily basis. In comparison, about 2% of our readers use Opera and 9% use Safari.

A New Focus on Speed

If anything, the release of Chrome engine has made all the other browser developers focus on the speed of their JavaScript engines again, which can only be a good thing for those of us who spend a lot of our days in browsers. The only missing piece that is still holding Chrome back today is the absence of a good extension architecture.

Here at tech-focused site ReadWriteWeb, the last couple of weeks of Google Analytics data shows that about 7.25% of our readers are visiting using Chrome.

Compare this to the month of August, when our browser stats looked like this:

Clearly Chrome has taken share from both Firefox (3.93%) and IE (4.7%), for our tech-savvy readers. However Safari's share has gone up a little on our site in September. Time will tell whether these trends continue, but for now Chrome is continuing at a solid 7% + for our site. Not bad when you consider that our readers are also statistically more likely than the general population to use Macs - which Chrome isn't available on yet. 18.28% of our August readers were Mac users, with 75.68% Windows.

More importantly, Chrome looks to be close to establishing itself as the 4th most popular browser in the mainstream market - which is bad news for Opera.

Even if it was accidental, the timing of Chrome's release could have hardly been any better. As the news leaked during Labor Day, which, by all measures, is traditionally a very slow news day, anticipation built quickly in the blogosphere and Chrome easily dominated the tech news cycle for the coming days. Also, the fact that Google streamed the announcement live and had the browser ready for download even before the announcement had finished surely helped to keep the momentum going.

What About the Rest?

In this short time, Chrome managed to become the 4th most used browser on the net after Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari. As Chrome only runs on Windows so far and given that Safari has a far smaller user base on Windows, Chrome is now the third most used browser for Windows users.

Here at RWW, we have been seeing the percentage of Chrome users rise steadily over the last few days. As of this morning, about 3.3% of RWW readers were using Chrome. UPDATE: later in the day, Chrome is 8.95% in our browser stats over the past two days!

This quick ascent for Chrome is even more astonishing, given that Apple had to resort to all kinds of tricks to even get to 0.2% of the market.

Firefox and Safari Lose

Clearly, there is a demand for a better browsers. According to StatCounter, Chrome's users have been coming from Firefox and Safari, while IE actually gained market share. Most of current Chrome users are still early adopters, but over time, we think that Chrome will mostly drain users away from Opera and IE, as its simplicity and ease of use would most probably appeal most to these two groups, while a lot of advanced Firefox users won't be able to switch until Chrome supports extensions.

We've been all over this story for the past few days, so here is a summary of our coverage so far:
- Google to Offer its Own Browser: Chrome (Marshall's initial story)
- Chrome: Test it With Us Live (check out Sarah Perez's screencast, with input from all the RWW team)
- Does Google Have Rights to Everything You Send Through Chrome? (great discussion happening in the comments of this one)
- Serious Security Flaw in Google Chrome (it's not all good news, it seems)

With Weave, Mozilla Labs currently offers a very similar feature, though Weave hasn't made it into the default install of Firefox yet. In the past, Google also offered a synchronization plugin for Firefox, but the company discontinued this service in December 2008.

Link to Chrome OS?

Of course, we can't help but wonder if this work isn't also being done in preparation for the upcoming release of the Google Chrome OS. A lot of the work to get Chrome to sync between different instances is being done at the backend. If Google could get its netbook OS to seamlessly sync with applications on the desktop, then that would be yet another selling point for the Chrome OS.

Privacy?

Chances are that you are already storing your search history on Google's servers. With Chrome's synchronization feature, however, you would also store a complete record of all of your comings and going on other parts of the Internet on Google's servers. Mozilla Weave encrypts your data before it is synced with Mozilla's servers. In today's announcement, the Chrome team did not talk about encryption, though we would be surprised if Google didn't implement client-side encryption as well.

For some users, though, giving even more information to Google - even if it is encrypted - may turn out to be a deal breaker.

Get the Dev Channel Release (if you dare)

For now, only users who have installed Chrome's developer version and are subscribed to the Dev channel will see these new features. The Chrome Dev channel is the most frequently updated, cutting-edge version of Chrome, but these version are also far less stable than those in the more mainstream Beta and Stable channels. If you would like to switch to the Dev channel, instructions for installing this version of Chrome can be found here.

Although Chrome and Android weren't developed together, there's already been a lot of speculation that the new browser would soon make its way to the Google OS, code-named "Android," which is coming soon to a T-Mobile HTC Dream near you.

Will the lightweight browser have as big of an impact on the mobile world as here on the desktop? It's possible that it might even have more of an impact over there. We think the iPhone is great, but it's a closed platform. Like Android, Google Chrome, on the other hand, can be licensed to any carrier that wants to do business. It can also run on numerous types of handsets.

If Google can make web apps work on the mobile device as well as on the desktop, then they will have truly made a giant step forward to making the cloud a real computing platform for the future: Build with App Engine, use in Chrome on desktop or mobile, go offline with Gears. Not a bad strategy.

1. Chrome Privacy Guard

Chrome Privacy Guard was the first tool to automatically delete the unique Client ID that Google assigns to your Chrome installation. With this tool, that ID is automatically deleted before each run of Chrome. To use Chrome Privacy Guard, you launch an executable file ChromePrivacyGuard.exe instead of launching the browser itself. The tool cans the "Local State" file inside the Chrome directory and removes all information regarding the Client ID. It then automatically starts Chrome.

2. UnChrome

Like Privacy Guard, UnChrome also removes your unique ID from the browser, instead replacing it with a null value. This is a bit more convenient because UnChrome only needs to be run once. After you download and run the tool, you will see a pop-up advertisement for the developer's other applications, but again, it's only a one-time thing. Afterwards, your browser will forever have the unique ID removed.

3. Iron

Iron is a fork of Chrome's Chromium core, the open source project behind Google Chrome. Developed by a German software company SRWare, Iron goes even further than the above tools to protect your privacy. Where the other tools simply remove the unique ID from Google's version of the Chrome browser, Iron is actually its own, separate browser. In addition to removing the unique ID, Iron also makes sure that no user-specific info is sent to Google, including crash reports. When you enter in a URL incorrectly, Iron does not present any alternative error messages like Chrome does. Finally, Iron does not come bundled with the Google Updater tool, which checks with Google to see if there are any new updates for the Google products you have installed.

Do you use any of these tools to protect your privacy? If so, share your experiences or your preferences in the comments.

When Google first launched its themes for Chrome in August, a lot of users were rather underwhelmed by the available selection and quality of the themes. Thanks to the Artist Themes, Chrome now offers a far larger selection of themes and switching themes is as easy as clicking 'Apply theme' on the gallery page.

With Personas, Firefox obviously offers a very similar feature and currently also offers a far wider range of themes than Chrome. Unlike Firefox, however, Google doesn't offer a central repository for themes that were created by users.

Nice Themes, But What About Usability?

The problem with most of these new themes, though, is that while the images are quite nice, they usually just get in the way of usability. When you can barely read the text in your bookmark's bar, for example, it doesn't matter if the theme was designed by Oscar de la Renta, Jeff Koons, or a random Google engineer.

Not to get your hopes up, but a recent update to the Google Chrome Privacy Policy makes us wonder. A few days ago, the first two opening paragraphs of the Chrome Privacy Policy were revised. The old and new versions are provided below with bold indicating the changes:

OLD:

The Privacy Policy below applies only to Google Chrome for Windows. For the Developer channel releases on other platforms see the privacy policies for Mac OS X and Linux . The Google Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Google's products and services, including information provided when you use Google Chrome. In addition, the following describes our privacy practices that are specific to Google Chrome. Google will notify you of any material changes to this policy, and you will always have the option to use the browser in a way that does not send any personal information to Google or to discontinue using it.

Information Google receives when you use Google Chrome

You do not need to provide any personally identifying information in order to download and use Google Chrome. When you download Google Chrome or use it to contact Google's servers, Google receives only standard log information including your machine's IP address and one or more cookies. You can configure Google Chrome to not send cookies to Google or other sites as explained here.

NEW:

The Google Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Google's products and services, including information provided when you use Google Chrome. In addition, the following describes our privacy practices that are specific to Google Chrome. Google will notify you of any material changes to this policy, and you will always have the option to use the browser in a way that does not send any personal information to Google or to discontinue using it.

Information Google receives when you use Google Chrome

You do not need to provide any personally identifying information in order to download and use Google Chrome. When you download Google Chrome or use it to contact Google's servers, Google receives only standard log information including your machine's IP address and one or more cookies. On Google Chrome for Windows, You can configure Google Chrome to not send cookies to Google or other sites as explained here. Google Chrome for Mac and Google Chrome for Linux currently do not allow this level of configuration.

What Do You Think?

Maybe we're grasping at straws here, after all, the change could be referring to the developer builds of the browser and they're simply cleaning up the language for simplification. Still, that would be odd considering that they removed the reference to the developer builds' privacy policy, wouldn't it? Or then again, maybe Google is just consolidating the privacy policies for both the developer and public builds. A third option is that Google could be getting a little of the administrative work out of the way before they make the Mac and Linux builds public.

Testers have been reporting that the developer builds have been seeing steady improvement and the Chromium builds (the open source project that serves as the testing ground for Google Chrome) have been shaping up on a daily basis, too. Maybe a public version of Chrome for Linux and Mac is almost here? We can only hope.