Google, Opera offer Mac users a browser bonanza

Browser bonanza, Mac users, with the all-new Opera 10 browser available now and an updated and much-improved Google Chrome browser alpha also doing the rounds.

Google has introduced Chrome 4.0.203.4 for Mac, addressing compatibility problems in Snow Leopard and mending a bunch of additional bugs in the process. There’s some user interface changes, including support for tab-to-search and command/shift clicking.

While the browser’s only available as a developer preview at the moment, those of us using it from time to time are impressed with how development’s progressing. It’s shaping up toward a beta, we think. Which it’s going to have to pass with flying colours, as Chrome will be the foundation of Google’s foray into the operating system market with Chrome OS.

Then, to quote a favorite CEO of a US company, “boom”, and Opera has introduced Opera 10. Three months since the beta version shipped the all-new Opera 10 is available for Mac, Linux and Windows systems. Its a fast browser with built-in features (Opera Turbo) designed to boost performance on slow connections and an improved user interface.

What else has it got? Tab bars double as webpage thumbnails, an enhanced Speed Dial (which gets you to the sites you visit most often) and the capacity to customise the browser with its own background picture. An incorporated email client and support for 51 languages also feature in this iteration of the increasingly mature browser.