For more than 10 years, Chrome has maintained an update schedule of approximately 6 weeks. In a world dominated by slow and spaced updates of software and firmware, this has always been a breath of fresh air. As Google started releasing biweekly security updates, in addition to this 6-week cycle, it was written on the wall that they could not only keep up with the 6-week update practice, but also shorten it, reduce it and still keep pace.
Just yesterday, Google announced that it is moving forward with this plan and will begin to shorten the Chrome update cycle to a period of 4 weeks compared to the current 6-week configuration starting in the third quarter of 2021 with the launch of Chrome 94. In addition to With this faster schedule, Google is also adding another release level in the form of the Extended Stable option, allowing users to make updates on an ongoing 8-week schedule. Here’s what Google says about why it’s adding this option:
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Extended Stable will be available for corporate administrators and Chromium incorporators who need additional time to manage updates. Security updates in Extended Stable will be released every two weeks to fix major issues, but these updates will not contain any new features or any security fixes that the 4-week option will receive.
through the Chromium blog
It looks like Chrome OS will come on that same journey, unless the move to separate the Chrome browser from Chrome OS and the operating system ends at this point. In that case, the Chrome browser on Chromebooks would start to be updated every 4 weeks, while we would have to wait and see how the operating system updates would actually happen. For now, the only mention of Chrome OS in the Chromium Blog post is in relation to the Extended Stable options that will be available to administrators for Chrome OS, but the details will not come forward for some months.
If Chrome OS and Chrome remain connected as they are now, there is no reason to think that Chrome OS will not be updated every 4 weeks going forward, but this change could also be the reason we are seeing so much work being done on Lacross – the code name for the standalone Chrome browser for Chromebooks. If divided, Google could update and treat Chrome exactly the same on all platforms, including new features and this updated release schedule. We’ll be keeping an eye on Lacros from this point on, for sure, but it’s definitely exciting to think that we can end up with a new version of Chrome OS every month, not far from now, if that’s not the direction Google is going to go on Chromebooks .
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