Google’s Chrome 2.0 web browser is now available as a public beta. While still not quite ready for prime time, the Chrome 2.0 beta boasts some impressive speed gains, making it well worth the risk of using beta software.

The Chrome 2.0 beta features an updated version of the WebKit rendering engine, which powers not just Chrome, but Apple’s Safari and other web browsers. The version of WebKit in Chrome 2.0 is very close to same version that is part of Apple’s Safari 4 beta release, which means not only is there a speed boost for Chrome 2.0, but the browser also gets features like full-page zoom, autoscroll, and support for the same CSS gradients and reflections that Safari 4 offers.

Chrome’s much-touted V8 JavaScript rendering engine has also seen an update, and Google claims that between the new version of WebKit and the new V8 engine, the Chrome 2.0 beta should be roughly twice as fast as Chrome 1.0.

Windows users interested in giving the Chrome 2.0 beta a try, can grab the download from Google.

There’s also good news for Linux users eagerly awaiting a usable version of Chrome. While the “usable” part is still debatable (Chromium for Linux is pre-alpha and lacks even support for basic features like tabbed browsing) at the least the installation is a bit easier on Ubuntu and other Debian-based systems thanks to a new package installer.

Download Squad has more details on how to get the (very experimental) Chrome for Linux running on your system.

As for Mac users wanting Chrome, well, the project has seen some progress, but there’s still not much to report (and nothing to download). You could always tide yourself over with Crossover Chromium, but realize it’s a far cry from a true Mac-native version Chrome.

See Also: