The browser, labeled 21.0.1171.0, shipped Monday to Google's "Dev" channel.

Google maintains multiple "channels," or versions of Chrome, with escalating levels of stability and reliability. Dev is the least stable and earliest public build, but others include "Beta" and "Stable," the last being Google's tag for a final, production-grade edition.

The company announced it would last Thursday, but at the time would not pin itself to a date.

After the new Dev version is installed, Chrome will run in both Windows 8's traditional x86/64 "desktop" mode -- the half that resembles Windows 7's user interface (UI) -- and in the tablet-, touch-centric "Metro" mode, where apps run in a full-screen, or at best, split view, with minimal UI gewgaws.

Under Microsoft's rules, a browser must be chosen as the operating system's default browser by the user to run in Metro.