Google releases Chrome Frame beta

Google Chrome Frame allows developers to code HTML5 applications for IE

Google has finally launched a beta of Chrome Frame after a long development cycle and a war of words with Microsoft.

The free plug-in for Internet Explorer (IE) allows developers to code HTML5 applications, and make them faster and more responsive, according to Google.

Chrome software engineers Amit Joshi and Alex Russell said in a blog post that web developers have been "itching to develop with HTML5" but have been held back by legacy browsers.

"Google Chrome Frame can help break this impasse by allowing applications to target HTML5 on versions of IE," they said.

"Today, we are excited to announce that Google Chrome Frame has graduated from developer preview into beta."

The Chrome Frame team claim to have fixed over 200 bugs to clear the way for tighter integration with the Microsoft browser, and said that security, stability and performance have all been focus areas for improvement.

The team has ported some of Chrome 5.0's features for Chrome Frame, including HTML5 audio and video, canvas, geo-location, workers and databases.

In effect, the HTML5 feature on the plug-in gives Google a head start on Microsoft. Current versions of IE do not yet support the new HTML5 playback used in millions of YouTube videos, for example.

Google's move to enable HTML5 compatibility comes after a public spat with Microsoft over alleged stability issues with IE and the Chrome Frame plug-in.

Microsoft said last year that Chrome Frame would render IE8 less secure, but Google ridiculed the browser as out of date and unstable.