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Google Celebrates 2 Years of Chrome with Chrome 6.0

Chrome is now gray. And faster, and stuff. But mostly gray.

By Wesley Fenlon  |  Sept. 2, 2010

Put on your party hats, everybody--Chrome officially hit the two year-old mark today, and Google has ushered version 6.0 up to the lofty perch of stable release. The Chrome developers also took some time to get all misty-eyed in a look back at Chrome’s history. Chrome has tripled the speed of its Javascript engine since 2008, helped drive HTML5 support, and taken a page out of Firefox’s book by adding an extension library.

Version 6 of Chrome combines its two menu buttons into one, moves the Favorite star to the right side of the URL bar, and tints the entire browser an impressively dull new shade of gray. Never fear, though--there are still plenty of themes to spice it up. If you’re a Chrome user and like to wait around for the stable releases, you can grab Chrome 6 right now. Or you could get ahead of the curve with Chrome 7 and check out some new features like GPU-acceleration.

We’re antsy to see Chrome’s web store launch, and then there’s Chrome OS to look forward to. Basically, we’re just super excited about HTML5 games. Version 7 and beyond can’t come soon enough.
23 Comments
Iconon Sept. 2, 2010 at 3:57 p.m.

"  We’re antsy to see Chrome’s web store launch, and then there’s Chrome OS to look forward to. Basically, we’re just super excited about  HTML5 games . Version 7 and beyond can’t come soon enough." 

I couldn't agree more. 
SpikeSpiegel is online on Sept. 2, 2010 at 4:42 p.m.
Whoa. This is awesome.
WEGGLESon Sept. 2, 2010 at 6:32 p.m.
I just tried out chrome since one of the early beta versions. So much faster and so much more stable now. And it was really fast then too. May make the full switch over. Big issue for me is Adblock and Youtube don't mix well and leave me f5-ing a lot. (Don't worry, it's disabled on all Whiskey Media sites). I wouldn't mind youtube ads so much if they weren't the shitty "FREE IPOD" ones from 1999.
eagles_bandon Sept. 2, 2010 at 7:12 p.m.
I couldn't go back to Firefox or IE.... Chrome rocks. 
SSullyon Sept. 2, 2010 at 8:09 p.m.
@eagles_band said:
" I couldn't go back to Firefox or IE.... Chrome rocks.  "
Couldnt agree more. I thought Firefox was the best thing since sliced bread until i saw an article on here a few months back about chrome and i havent looked back since. 
Organicalistic_on Sept. 2, 2010 at 8:56 p.m.
i dislike the fact that there is no history tab, or file, edit, bookmarks, tools, or even help tab in chrome, that and the fact that firefox has always been there for me make it my number one choice
WesleyFenlon staff on Sept. 2, 2010 at 9:18 p.m.
I'm really digging Firefox 4 beta 4's Panorama mode. Can't wait for the final release. Firefox is still my browser of choice, in general, mostly for the established extension library I've developed and carried across releases. And I love the Awesomebar. But when it comes to browsing on my netbook, I always end up back on Chrome. It's just so wonderfully space efficient.
TheIneffableBobon Sept. 2, 2010 at 9:49 p.m.
What font is that?
Microshockon Sept. 2, 2010 at 10:52 p.m.
It'll take years for people to properly learn how to make HTML5 games. Flash still works best for that. 
 
But Google Chrome is the best browser bar none. Such a clean interface.
Tartaruson Sept. 3, 2010 at 4:16 a.m.
I tried other browser for a while and didn't really like any of them that much but I chose Chrome and its been quite good.
tapsodaon Sept. 3, 2010 at 5:34 a.m.
@eagles_band said:
" I couldn't go back to Firefox or IE.... Chrome rocks.  "
Too true.
bagels staff on Sept. 3, 2010 at 5:39 a.m.
@WesleyFenlon: Has Firefox gotten any faster with those latest betas? Not even in terms of javascript rendering, but just overall performance. It was always incredibly sluggish on Mac, though I might give the Windows build a chance on my new PC.  
 
Also, where's the lead image from? It's really fucking awesome.
thabigredon Sept. 3, 2010 at 5:43 a.m.
Chrome seems to be running smoother on my computer everyday. I don't understand what the deal is, whether I've just been running my PC better or what but yeah, I am very happy with Google at the moment. Can't wait for 7.0 update, GPU acceleration is the one thing that Chrome needs baddly imo.
Gaffon Sept. 3, 2010 at 5:45 a.m.
@Organicalistic_: Have you tried clicking on the page and wrench in the top right of the Chrome window? 
 
@bagels:  http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/landing_chrome.html?hl=en&brand=CHMP 
 
It's just from the Chrome site. Still, lovely posters.
bagels staff on Sept. 3, 2010 at 6:04 a.m.
@Gaff: D'oh. Didn't bother clicking on through to the site because I assumed it was the same old stuff. Thanks!
ChrisTiltonon Sept. 3, 2010 at 6:29 a.m.
They are already at version 6?! Aren't these updates going to seem less significant if they keep blasting through version numbers? At this rate, in 4 years, we'll be at version 18!
gingertastic_10on Sept. 3, 2010 at 7:20 a.m.
Awesome ^_^
MAGZine moderator on Sept. 3, 2010 at 7:28 a.m.
@ChrisTilton: I'd imagine that after a while, they'll release 'Chome 2', which starts again at version 1. :P 
 
And wow, it's been 2 years already? I jumped ship from FireFox immediately when Chrome came out - a first day switch for me.  Time flies fast.  
@bagels: I haven't personally installed it, but I did have a friend who had installed it who said it was painfully slow and buggy.
Meteoraon Sept. 3, 2010 at 9:20 a.m.
You know, when Google Chrome came out I thought it was gonna flop, and that Mozilla Firefox was still on its way to dominating the browser war. Apparently I was wrong, because Google Chrome is making a impact in the market share at a surprising and outstanding pace. 
 
Good jobs to Google. Let's see how this browser war turns out.
WesleyFenlon staff on Sept. 3, 2010 at 1:33 p.m.
@bagels said:
" @WesleyFenlon: Has Firefox gotten any faster with those latest betas? Not even in terms of javascript rendering, but just overall performance. It was always incredibly sluggish on Mac, though I might give the Windows build a chance on my new PC.   Also, where's the lead image from? It's really fucking awesome. "
Firefox always seems to boot very slowly for me, but it's also loading up a bevvy of extensions and a bunch of tabs from my last browsing session. In terms of in-browser performance, I don't have any complaints. Never used it on a Mac, though.
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