If you have a 32 bit computer or if you are running Ubuntu 12.04 or Debian 7 (even the 64 bit version), then you would be disappointed to know that Google Chrome will no longer be supported on these systems.
In a mailing list, Google Engineer Dirk Prnake announced this news:
To provide the best experience for the most-used Linux versions, we will end support for Google Chrome on 32-bit Linux, Ubuntu Precise (12.04), and Debian 7 (wheezy) in early March, 2016. Chrome will continue to function on these platforms but will no longer receive updates and security fixes.
We intend to continue supporting the 32-bit build configurations on Linux to support building Chromium. If you are using Precise, we’d recommend that you to upgrade to Trusty.
No, it’s not like that Chrome will stop functioning all of a sudden but it will not receive any security updates. Keeping that in mind, you should not be using Google Chrome on the affected systems after March 2016.
What now?
If you have a 64 bit system but you are still using 32 bit Linux OS, you have the choice to install the 64 bit OS.
If you are using Ubuntu 12.04 or Debian 7, you can upgrade your system to a newer version.
If you are stuck with 32 bit system, you have no choice other than using the open source Chromium browser or other alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera etc. Installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu 32-bit is not a possibility anymore.
If you have a choice but you still do not want to upgrade your system, you will also have to use the Chromium browser. Chromium is the open source project and Google Chrome is based on the same source code. Chromium is almost the same as Chrome browser. It also has Chrome Store, extension and Google account support. It doesn’t contain some closed source, proprietary features such as Flash plug in.
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Image courtesy: d0od
