[German] Google's developers have released version 70 of the Chrome browser for Windows, Linux and macOS. In addition to 23 closed security holes, the browser now supports PWA apps under Windows.
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The new features
Chrome developer Peter LePage has presented the new features of version 70 on this Chromium blog page. New in Chrome 70 is the support for:
- Desktop Progressive Web Apps on Windows (see below).
- The Credential Management API supports Public Key Credentials (allows finger print readers to login at Google or Facebook).
(Source: Google)
- So calles workers may be named. Workers are an easy way to move JavaScript from the main thread to the background. This is critical to the interactivity of your website, as it means that the main thread does not block itself when performing an expensive or complex JavaScript calculation.
Other new features such as Web Bluetooth in Windows 10 are listed here. Web Bluetooth allows a website in Windows 10 to communicate securely and privately with nearby user-selected Bluetooth devices. The following video introduces some of the new .
(Source: YouTube)
PWAs for Windows 10
Users can now install Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) on the desktop under Windows. If a Web page offers a PWA, this should be reported in a popup and the user is given the option to install the app locally on the desktop.
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After installation, the PWA apps are launched from the Start menu and run like any other installed application, without an address bar or tabs. PWAs are Microsoft's new strategy for Windows 10 and are supposed to replace the UWP apps. Google has published a video here.
It is unclear to me whether this feature is only available in Windows 10, or also in Windows 7/Windows 8.1. The video shows a Windows 10 desktop, while the Google blog post only talks about Windows. I didn't have time yet for a test with the Chrome 70.0.3538.6.
23 vulnerabilities closed
In version 70.0.3538.6, 23 vulnerabilities have been fixed in Chrome 70. This ranges from the highly rated vulnerability CVE-2018-17462 (Sandbox escape in AppCache), to CVE-2018-17463 (Remote code execution in V8), to Heap buffer overflow in Little CMS in PDFium or CVE-2018-17465 (Use after free in V8), and for example CVE-2018-17466 (Memory corruption in Angle). The list of security fixes can be viewed here. Google Chrome 70 can be downloaded here.
Hi,
Great article! PWAs may be installed onto any Windows/Android/iOS/Chromebook platform that supports running the new Chrome 70 browser.
It definitely is capable of installing and running PWAs on Windows 7, which I am running on.
As an independent application and software developer this absolutely frees up our software to install and run independently of any App store available on the internet!
It's absolutely great news!