Chrome hits Mac and Linux, but don’t download it

Chrome closeup

Google has released versions of Mac and Linux for its Chrome browser but whatever you do, don't download them.

Google released its Chrome browser last September, but only for Windows. Now, it's released early builds for Mac and Linux, but anyone dying to try the browser on those platforms should hold off unless you're a developer, according to product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg, writing on the Chromium blog.

"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM! Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software," the pair wrote.

At the moment, the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome don't support Flash plugins so no YouTube and there's no way to change privacy settings, default search provider or print from the browser.

Despite the flaws, the pair promised "a beta release as soon as possible."

Google released the second version of Chrome last month.