Google Chrome Is Switching To a Two-Week Release Cycle (9to5google.com)
- Reference: 0180901132
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/03/03/2040230/google-chrome-is-switching-to-a-two-week-release-cycle
- Source link: https://9to5google.com/2026/03/03/chrome-two-week-updates/
> There will still be weekly security updates between milestones. This applies to desktop, Android, and iOS, while there are "no changes to the Dev and the Canary channels": "A Chrome Beta for each version will ship three weeks before the stable release. We recommend developers test with the beta to keep up to date with any upcoming changes that might impact your sites and applications."
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> The eight-week Extended Stable release schedule for enterprise customers and Chromium embedders will not change. Chromebooks will also have "extended release options": "Our priority is a seamless experience, so the latest Chrome releases will roll out to Chromebooks after dedicated platform testing. We are adapting these channels for the new two-week browser cycle and we will share more details soon regarding milestone updates for managed devices."
[1] https://9to5google.com/2026/03/03/chrome-two-week-updates/
[2] https://chromiumdash.appspot.com/schedule
Is Chrome really that unstable? (Score:1)
I use Firefox and try to avoid Chrome (though I have it on my computer "just in case").
But I'm wondering if and why Google Chrome is so unstable/buggy/insecure/whatever that it requires a new release every two weeks.
I can't see how that would be necessary unless someone is really dropping the ball here and in that case they probably have the wrong people doing the software development.
"Our web browser is so defective that we have to update it every two weeks" just doesn't seem like a great way to increase o
Re: (Score:2)
> But I'm wondering if and why Google Chrome is so unstable/buggy/insecure/whatever that it requires a new release every two weeks.
Yes, I was questioning how big a difference in performance between two versions was justifying just an aggressive release schedule. Like are people really struggling that much with slow performance on a browser that constantly talks about how fast it is?
With keeping uBlock Origin working in Chrome a chore now I chose to uninstall it. If I need a "just in case" browser to A-B test against Firefox I just open Microsoft Edge now.
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Well, ideally Google would like to get web certificate lifetimes down to one or two days, and Chrome's major release cadence would match that. Then each new major release could include the most up-to-date list of all currently accepted certificate authorities.
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Browsers only include a list of root CAs and those have a long life time. Dropping lifetime on root CAs would be an absolute nightmare.
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>> But I'm wondering if and why Google Chrome is so unstable/buggy/insecure/whatever that it requires a new release every two weeks.
> Yes, I was questioning how big a difference in performance between two versions was justifying just an aggressive release schedule. Like are people really struggling that much with slow performance on a browser that constantly talks about how fast it is?
Well, I mean, if you have to relaunch every two weeks and close all your windows, that certainly won't hurt performance. :-D
Supermium is a good alternative for Windows (Score:1)
If you must use a Chromium browser on Windows, Supermium is a good alternative. Real uBlock origin works. Supermium supports even Windows 7 machines, so people who like their old computer have a way to go online with it. And since you are not using the default platform, you are less of a malware target.
This is fine. (Score:1)
You know Chrome 18,432,300 is just so much more performant than the Chrome Version 3,143,802 that shipped a mere two years ago.
Simplified Post-Release Debugging (Score:2)
AKA "We're putting all the testing work on our users so we don't have to do it"
Just make it once a day (Score:2)
Just make it once a day, or hey, every hour. That way, I can update Chrome between the gig of Win11 updates coming in.
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With AI we could have a release every 11 minutes if we wanted to!
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I swear Chrome "updates" do nothing.
Like are there any changes made in the last 3 years that needed such a high update frequency?