Developers take Mac, Linux-friendly Chrome for a spin

Google has released a rough-round-the-edges version of Chrome for the Mac OS X and Linux platforms, nine months after the browser made its debut.

However, Mountain View has warned all but the most hardy of developers to steer clear of the test build versions.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM," urged Google product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg in a blog post.

"Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software."

The company said the half-baked version of the browser won’t allow users to view YouTube videos, change privacy settings, set a default search provider to Bing, or even pull down some trees by printing out web pages via Chrome.

Up until now, Chrome was only available to Microsoft Windows users, which has disappointed openistas across the globe.

Developers can play with the incomplete browser if they so wish, said Google. It added that the firm was continuing to work on Mac and Linux platforms to come up with a “stable enough” beta version of the browser sometime soon. ®