14 DAY TRIAL // The Google developers have been keeping themselves busy and they've released a new stable version of the Google Chrome browser that comes with an updated Flash and a few other changes and fixes.
There are three different Google Chrome branches that are actively being worked on: Stable, Beta, and Dev. All the changes for Google's browser are first implemented in the development branch, after which they land in the Beta, and eventually in the Stable version. It's quite possible that some features or changes don't trickle down to the latest version, so unless you're a developer, there is no real need to use anything else besides the Stable iteration.
The developers also mentioned that the Flash component has been updated as well, but that is only true for the Windows and Mac OS X versions. Flash for Linux is no longer being developed for some time and it's only maintained. It's basically dead and the devs make sure no security problems crop up.
Flash player for Linux on Google Chrome is going away
If you take a look at the differences between the Windows and Linux versions of Flash, you will see that it's quite a big one. The Windows version carries the 16.0.0.257 version and the Linux one is still 11.2.202.429. It's not moving and, in fact, users won't see any evolution.
There aren't too many improvements in this latest update and the community thought they would get to Google Chrome 40 already, but that will have to wait. Only one entry in the changelog is really just out. "A throttled ack will be held until the commit, which may not happen if the widget is hidden. Flush the ack when widget visibility changes, ensuring the browser process gets a timely ack," is noted on the official website.
You can check the initial announcement for more details about this release. Also, you can download Google Chrome 39.0.2171.99 for Linux from Softpedia, or the Windows and Mac OS X versions from the same location. These are all binary files, so installing them won't be a problem.
Update: The Chrome browser uses the same version of Flash as the other platforms, but other browsers like Firefox are still stuck with the 11.x branch.
