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Time for a little good news. Last week, Chromium developers announced that future releases of Chrome and Chrome OS would be put on pause for an undetermined amount of time. Subsequently, Chrome and Chrome OS version 82 was abandoned completely as developers worked out how to adjust the Chrome Release Calendar in light of the unexpected delays. There was no indication of how long the initial pause would last but today, it looks like it isn’t going to be very long.
According to the official Chrome Release Blog, Chrome and Chrome OS releases are being put back on schedule with some minor changes in dates for 81 and 83. Version 82 is still being skipped and the adjusted dates will put version 83 roughly launching roughly a month ahead of schedule with all of the changes that were slated for 82 packaged up in the update. Here’s the official statement:
We previously paused upcoming releases for Chrome and Chrome OS. Today we’re sharing an update as we’re now resuming releases with an adjusted schedule:
Chrome Team via Chrome Release Blog
- M83 will be released three weeks earlier than previously planned and will include all M82 work as we cancelled the M82 release (all channels).
- Our Canary, Dev and Beta channels have or will resume this week, with M83 moving to Dev, and M81 continuing in Beta.
- Our Stable channel will resume release next week with security and critical fixes in M80, followed by the release of M81 the week of April 7, and M83 ~mid-May.
- We will share a future update on the timing of the M84 branch and releases.
At the end of the day, this will only put version 81 about 3-4 weeks behind but will essentially move everything ahead when M83 is launched. They’re really just numbers anyway. What’s important is that the Chrome Team is still focusing on bringing more stability to the current versions of Chrome and Chrome OS. If you are experiencing any issues with the latest update, make sure to provide detailed feedback by hitting Alt+Shift+i on your Chromebook. Your input is very useful in helping the Chrome team diagnose and repair issues that may have slipped through the cracks.
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Source: Chrome Release Blog
