Google reforms Chrome for Snow Leopard 1st Sep 10:17 Google released an update for Chrome to fix compatibility problems with Snow Leopard on Monday, which along with other fixes shows the gradually maturing state of the Mac OS X version of the browser. Chrome 4.0.203.4 for the Mac is only a couple notches up the version ladder than the version 4.0.203.2 it replaces, but there are some significant changes in the developer-preview software. For Snow Leopard compatibility, programmers fixed a garbled text bug, said Jonathan Conradt, a Chrome engineering program manager, in a blog post Monday. Google began Chrome on Windows but has been gradually moving it to Linux and Mac OS X. Those versions so far are still only developer-preview incarnations not ready for prime time yet, though I find myself gradually slipping over to Chrome on my Mac system now that it's getting mature enough for me.

The announcement came via the official Chrome blog, where the search giant revealed that Mac users will need to be running OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later to receive continued updates for Chrome. A Chrome 24 on Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) user agent.

I suspect a beta version isn't far off. Google is fleshing out some basic features, though. One user-interface tweak enables support for command- and shift-clicking. Another feature coming to the Mac is support for the tab-to-search feature in the omnibox. That lets you perform a site search directly from the address bar by typing a URL, for example news.cnet.com, then the tab key, then search terms.

Tab-to-search also works with Amazon, Google, Google News, and Yahoo, The New York Times, but not Bing yet. I search a lot, and this saves me one step and waiting for a page to load just so I can click in its search bar. The most annoying issue I've found--and let me know if I'm missing something obvious here--is that I lose the file-upload dialog box while using Gmail with Chrome on Mac OS X if I switch away from the application while halfway through. If I don't attach a file immediately, that tab's instance of Gmail becomes useless because I can't get back to it.

Performance still is an issue with the Mac version, though. I was pleased to see some work on new-tab creation speed, with programmer Mark Mentovai using various changes to work the time from 1-3 seconds down to a fifth of a second. Google is working hard to spread Chrome, though it has small market share at present. It's now installed as the default browser on some Sony laptops, as Endgadget noticed in July with the Vaio NW, and I heard about earlier in August. Google has been advertising the browser as well and is at work making it the foundation of its Chrome OS.

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Google will pull the plug for Chrome running on OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, after it releases version 21, which is currently in beta and will reach the browser's 'stable' channel sometime next month, the company has announced. Chrome 22, the browser that just landed in the 'dev' channel -- Google maintains three primary builds for its browser, with the dev line the roughest-edged -- will not run on OS X 10.5. 'Google Chrome on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will stop receiving any updates following Chrome 21,' Google said on its. 'This includes new features, security fixes and stability updates.' [ Further reading: ] Leopard was launched by Apple in October 2007, and according to Web measurement firm Net Applications, accounted for 11.6% of all versions of Apple's OS-powered machines that went online in June. OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard, and 10.7, better known as Lion, have a combined share of 84.4%, Net Applications said earlier this month. Chrome 21 -- the last for Leopard -- should reach the stable channel somewhere between Aug.