Less than a month after announcing that version 1.0 of its Chrome Web browser is no longer a beta, Google has released an alpha version of Chrome 2.0. Available through Google’s Chrome Developer Channel, the updated browser brings many notable improvements over Chrome 1.0.

The alpha version of Chrome 2.0 shows that Google continues to play catch-up with its elder siblings, Internet Explorer and Firefox. Updates to the Chrome browser include the addition of form autocomplete (one of the features most obviously missing from the initial release), full-page zoom, spell checking improvements, and auto-scrolling–among other features.

One of the most interesting new features in the pre-beta 2.0 of Chrome is called Profiles. This lets users separate Chrome’s settings, including bookmarks, history and cookies, in different categories for different types of use. For example, you can have personal and work profiles, both with different home pages, bookmarks and history, together with separate desktop shortcuts.

The 2.0 Chrome pre-beta also uses a new version of the WebKit rendering engine, basically the same as the one in Apple’s Safari 3.1, which enables some CSS coding features such as gradients, canvas drawing, reflections, and masks. Also, Google implemented experimental support for Greasemonkey scripts.

For those with security in mind, along the SafeBrowsing implementation, Chrome 2.0 introduces a new HTTPS-only browsing mode that will only load HTTPS sites. The downside of this feature is that sites with SSL certificate errors will not load.

Other new features include:

- Importing bookmarks from Google Bookmarks;

- Docking dragged tabs (drag a tab to certain positions on the monitor and a docking icon will appear);

- Update of the V8 Javascript engine (to version 0.4.6.0 from 0.3.9.3);

- New network code (Google Chrome now has its own implementation of the HTTP network protocol);

- New window frames on Windows XP and Vista (supporting windows cascading and tiling).

new version of Chrome, you’ll need an earlier version of the browser installed on your computer. You’ll also need to subscribe to the Developer Preview Channel (it’s free); the new version will then download automatically.

Web sites saw visitors deserting Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser in favor of Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome in December, according to Web analytics company Net Applications.Internet Explorer was used by 68.15 percent of Web surfers monitored in December, down from 69.77 percent in November and 71.27 percent in October, according to preliminary figures published by Net Applications on its Hitslink Web site Friday. IE’s share has slipped from around 75 percent since the start of 2008.

Safari, Firefox and Chrome all profited from the slide in IE’s popularity.

Firefox’s share rose to 21.34 percent, from 20.78 percent in November and 19.97 percent in October, while Safari’s climbed to 7.93 percent, from 7.13 percent in November and 6.57 percent in October.

Google’s Chrome browser topped the 1 percent mark in Net Applications’ survey for the first time, with a share of 1.04 percent, up from 0.83 percent in November and 0.74 percent in October.

Opera’s share remained steady at 0.71 percent.

Net Applications warned that decreased workplace use of the Internet in December may have biased its results.