Earlier this week Google introduced some interesting under-the-hood changes to the way the different versions of its Chrome web browser are distributed, and following these changes, beta testers and developers can run multiple side-by-side Chrome installations and have access to all the available Chrome channels on the same computer, whereas in the past they were forced to choose between the Stable build and one of the pre-release versions of Chrome.
Up until now, it has been impossible to install the stable version of Chrome alongside a Beta or Dev build on the same machine. This meant that website developers who wanted to test their content on multiple Chrome builds were forced to use different computers for each Chrome channel, up to a total of three. This is no longer the case starting August 21st, as side-by-side Chrome installations can now be performed on machines running Microsoft Windows, Android OS, and Linux. The tech giant also mentioned that the ability to run multiple Chrome instances will be made available on additional platforms with future Chrome releases, however, no exact timeframes or operating systems have been revealed. At the present time, Google is distributing the Chrome web browser through a total of four channels. There are the aforementioned Stable, Beta, and Development channels, and in addition, there are the Canary builds which acts as an early testing area for features that may become available in the upper Dev channel. It’s interesting to note that unlike the Beta and Dev builds, Chrome Canary was able to run side-by-side with other versions of the web browser before this latest update was introduced earlier this week.
Google notes that users who already run the Beta or Developer versions of Chrome on their machines are required to reinstall the application in order for these changes to take effect. In addition, users who may want to transfer their bookmarks and settings to a different Chrome installation are required to sign into the browser before proceeding with the uninstall. At the time of writing, the latest Stable version of Chrome is v60.0, while version 61.0 is available on Chrome Beta, and version 62.0 can be accessed through the Dev channel. Readers who may want to become early Chrome adopters can refer to the source link below.