Google Chrome ditches beta label

Google Inc. dropped the beta label from its three-month-old browser today, saying that Chrome is ready for prime time.

Some users disagree.

In entries to several company blogs, Google managers trumpeted the name change. "We have removed the beta label as our goals for stability and performance have been met," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, in a post Thursday.

Linus Upson, a Google engineering director, joined Pichai in touting improvements to Chrome since the brower's early-September release. "Video and audio glitches were among the most common bugs fixed during the beta period," said Upson. "If you had problems watching videos with Google Chrome in the past, you should be pleasantly surprised with the performance now."

According to Mark Larson , the browser's product manager, the first non-beta release of Chrome will be tagged 1.0.154.36. Existing users will be automatically updated over the next few days, Larson said.

But calling Chrome stable doesn't necessarily make it so, several users said. In comments posted to Larson's post, they took exception to the removal of the "beta" label.

"Chrome is definitely not ready for a stable release," argued someone identified only as "William" in a comment Thursday morning . "It still has several issues just accessing some sites such as www.burningsea.com. This is quiet [sic] surprising Google would do this when they've left their other products in beta for several years."

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