TNRI EXCLUSIVE

First Look at Google Chrome For Mac

Exclusive Screenshots

Manyusers were understandably peeved when's revolutionary new web browser, Google Chrome , was released as a Windows-only. The tech giant was awfully mum on when to expectandversions of Chrome; admitting that the lack of a Mac version was "embarrassing," Google co-foundersaid it could be "months" before one is released.

So what's the hold up? Well, no word yet on the Linux version, but a top-secret source tells me things aren't going so well over in the Mac division at Google HQ. Some of the killer features of the Windows version of Chrome, such as the "omnibar" and the new tab page, had to be ditched entirely because they were just "too hard" to implement on the Mac platform. Despite these setbacks, Google's Mac engineers are determined to make Google Chrome the best it can be and are diligently working around the clock to bring the cloud computing operating system of the future to the Macintosh.

I managed to score an exclusive sneak preview of the current beta of Google Chrome for Mac. My source warned me it was a work-in-progress and that there are still some bugs to be worked out. Boy, he wasn't kidding. Design-wise, Google Chrome for Mac is going in a completely new direction from Google Chrome for Windows. All I've got to say is, Google is definitely "thinking different" when it comes to the modern browser. Some exclusive screenshots of the yet-to-be-released browser after the jump.



Google's homepage looks pretty good in this Google-made browser, as should be expected.

Google's billion-dollar purchase, however, isn't looking too hot here.

Could Google be leveraging its power to make its competitors' sites look bad? "Don't be evil," indeed.

Yahoo-owned social bookmarking site Delicious barely even renders...

...while popular music-aggregating site last.fm doesn't render at all.

The new Facebook is bound to cause even more user outrage when Chrome for Mac is released.

Digg looks like shitt.

TechCrunch looks like TechCrap.

First impression: not bad, but certainly not replacing Firefox or Safari anytime soon. Bad news for developers, who will have to spend long hours making their sites look decent in yet another browser. Here's hoping Google can iron out these bugs soon.