Google cranks up the speed on Google Chrome release cycle
Yes, you read that correctly. Six weeks.
That's not set in stone, of course -- build issues and bugs could delay a release. Still, this means that the exciting new features you read about popping up in the developer channel will now likely have a shorter path to travel to the stable version. "We have new features coming out all the time and do not want users to have to wait months before they can use them," says the official blog post. It continues, "We basically wanted to operate more like trains leaving Grand Central Station (regularly scheduled and always on time), and less like taxis leaving the Bronx (ad hoc and unpredictable)."
Google also hopes the change will take some heat off the Chrome development team. Instead of having to rush to commit changes in the weeks and days leading up to a release, they'll be sliding in changes more frequently. If a feature isn't ready, they'll simply bump it to the next cycle.
It'll be interesting to see if this puts any heat on Mozilla, Opera, Microsoft, and Apple. Will they counter? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Oh yeah...Google also asks that you not pay too much attention to the numbers anymore as they stream past in the rear view mirror -- so no jokes, mmmkay?
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsRobertoJul 22nd 2010 6:18PM
Oh my God, Google is already releasing new features, one after another, instead of major versions every year, like Mozilla does (or every life cycle, in Microsoft's case).
We're going to reach V. Bazillion by 2020.
RobertoJul 22nd 2010 6:19PM
At least on the Dev Channel
mkoJul 22nd 2010 6:46PM
Hitler would be proud
Nakul SharmaJul 22nd 2010 7:28PM
Grand Central reminds me, where is gizmo5+google voice love. has been ages for that to happen.
__smooth__Jul 22nd 2010 7:47PM
I think this is going to be about speeding up the testing on new features for Chromium.
Think about it: Chromium is due soon and they need the features ready to go by launch. Since most of it is based on Chrome, all they have to do is add in the new features, serve us the "dogfood" and let us report the bugs to their bug tracker.
Even though this is my opinion, I'm not saying I'm against it. I love being an early adopter.
AemonyJul 22nd 2010 8:33PM
Only 153,69 years until we hit Chrome 1337...
I can live with that.
David LevineJul 22nd 2010 9:45PM
This sounds good to me. I use the dev channel now, so that means that new features will really be coming in fast. I could care less about the version numbers.
MattJul 22nd 2010 11:58PM
ARGH
COULDN'T care less.
Lee MathewsJul 22nd 2010 11:59PM
I'm not the only one who sees the irony in comments like this, right?
You couldn't care less...yet you felt compelled to comment. So you could, in fact, care less -- at which point you wouldn't even bother to comment, or read posts like this.
IscinJul 23rd 2010 2:51AM
IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!
Also: I see what you did thar.
-Iscin
JohnJohnJul 23rd 2010 7:00AM
I don't really see the point of 'version number' other then just another useless number. I, for one, am glad to see frequent stable releases. It takes way too long for new features to trickle down to stable channel. This way we will be able to use them before they are rendered useless.
Or we can follow the Mozilla model and release a new version every 3 years.
desJul 23rd 2010 11:38AM
Firefox pushes updates every month, if not quicker. I doubt Chrome's "stable releases" will be much different. in fact, it sounds a lot like what Firefox does already--with minor changes within versions 3.0.x, then 3.5.x now 3.6.x