The idea is that this version of Chrome would as closely as possible resemble Chrome OS and therefore be a nice fit for PC users who also had a Chromebook and were therefore used to multiple windows (in particular) and the other Chrome OS features.

Or, it would give the unscroogled PC user a chance to see what Chrome OS was all about.

This immediately struck me as a two-fingered salute to Microsoft and a little way of saying “thanks” for the pre-Christmas ‘Scroogled’ campaign which characterised the Chromebook as a worthless brick, but which nevertheless (as far as we can tell) didn’t seem to dent its Christmas sales. (see - Microsoft enters into the spirit of Xmas (and tries to rip Google's head off).

It could even be that the Scroogled campaign drew attention to the Chromebooks and helped them off the shelves.

But you get no hint of all that from Google’s Chrome blog. It’s all earnest stuff.

“Chrome on Windows 8 “Metro” mode gets a new look: Manage multiple Chrome windows and quickly get to your favorite Chrome Apps with an integrated app launcher. On the desktop, we’ve updated the default styling of UI elements like form controls and scrollbars to match the sleek design of the new Chrome Metro interface.”

The new version also tackles the rogue film clip problem which I’ve only noticed recently (I suspect online publishers are exploiting here). It’s the tendency now for browser users to end up with 10 to 20 open tabs as they click through the day. Suddenly an audio clip will start up on one of the tabs. But which one? Google’s going to put a little icon on the tab so you can douse it quickly.