3 ms·

To some people, that may be. Either way, there's no denying that Google literally spammed Chrome everywhere, and often with misleading or dishonest text. "You

To some people, that may be. Either way, there's no denying that Google literally spammed Chrome everywhere, and often with misleading or dishonest text. "Your browser is outdated. Upgrade it now (to Chrome) for a better experience", "Make youtube faster with Chrome" etc etc. It was literally impossible to go anywhere on the web, without the top of every second screen you visited saying "Upgrade to Chrome". It was massive and it was dishonest. Ofcourse moms and dads everywhere jumped on this, like they jump on the "free scans" and "you have a virus" messages without ever considering if Chrome was a different browser or there being any technical merit to the claims about being better. Google used the exact same strategy as malware authors. They even bundled it as a drive-by install with other popular software (like Flash). Update flash and suddenly your default browser is Chrome, which conveniently imported all your Firefox data and now reports all of that to Google, one keystroke at a time. It's hard not to call this spyware. Plain and simple: Chrome's marketshare is based on being evil and nothing else. These days Chrome may feel like a better product, because Google keeps making their pages for Chrome and nothing else, using proprietary Google only extensions. And that reminds me of a story I've heard before... Something about there E's..?

millstone 11y ago
This ought not to be in past tense. There is still only one ad on www.google.com: "A better way to browse the web..."
Eupolemos 11y ago
While I disagree with "free scans" and "evil", I think you're hitting pretty close to the mark. Back then, Google's Chrome was still an exciting new thing being discovered by many non-techies, fast and simple. Google seemed like a company dead set on being the good guys. Things have muddled since, IMHO.
- wutbrodo 11y ago
  > Back then, Google's Chrome was still an exciting new thing being discovered by many non-techies, fast and simple. Google seemed like a company dead set on being the good guys. Yea this was pretty odd. Usually all the people around me are the last to switch, because they make their decisions based on "whichever thing they saw first or more prominently". In Chrome's case, I switched quite a while after most of my friends: they all saw Chrome marketed all over the place while I consciously enjoyed a Firefox feature or two that Chrome was lacking. I finally ended up switching when Firefox's incredible slowness made it too painful to keep using (this was around v3.5, I believe).
afsina 11y ago
A spyware? Come on. To my experience it was the clear advantage on the design, security and speed (launch and JS speed). It was way ahead of Firefox or IE. I often asked people why they use Chrome they say it feels faster and not cluttered. Sure commercials helped but IMO, it was the word of mouth made it that popular.
- josteink 11y ago
  Again: When you bundle it as a unwanted drive-by install and steal users' data, it's hard to not call something spyware.
  - afsina 11y ago
    >'steal users data' Please. Aren't we all tired of this?
    - josteink 11y ago
      If you download and install App A because you want App A, but unasked App B also gets installed as a paid-for drive-by installation which sets itself as your new default browser, which upon first launch (because its now default) imports all your data, history, bookmarks and passwords from your actual preferred browser and then proceeds to send all this data to App B's vendor without making it clear to you what just happened... How is that not stealing? How is that different from what we usually call spyware? There is nothing legitimate about how Chrome has hijacked a multitude of users' PCs and their data. There's no way to defend this behaviour.
      - yuhong 11y ago
        "proceeds to send all this data to App B's vendor" Proof?
        josteink 11y ago
        It's called "sync" and you can bet everyone who has a Gmail account who gets asked to "log into Google" when Chrome is opened (as their new default browser) will enter their username and password without giving a second thought to it or realizing what they just authorized. That's ofcourse if they even noticed that their browser now looks slightly different at all. Voila. Data stolen. Or are you going to argue that this represents completely concentfull and legitimately syncing?

millstone 11y ago

This ought not to be in past tense. There is still only one ad on www.google.com: "A better way to browse the web..."

Eupolemos 11y ago

While I disagree with "free scans" and "evil", I think you're hitting pretty close to the mark. Back then, Google's Chrome was still an exciting new thing being discovered by many non-techies, fast and simple. Google seemed like a company dead set on being the good guys. Things have muddled since, IMHO.

wutbrodo 11y ago
> Back then, Google's Chrome was still an exciting new thing being discovered by many non-techies, fast and simple. Google seemed like a company dead set on being the good guys. Yea this was pretty odd. Usually all the people around me are the last to switch, because they make their decisions based on "whichever thing they saw first or more prominently". In Chrome's case, I switched quite a while after most of my friends: they all saw Chrome marketed all over the place while I consciously enjoyed a Firefox feature or two that Chrome was lacking. I finally ended up switching when Firefox's incredible slowness made it too painful to keep using (this was around v3.5, I believe).

afsina 11y ago

A spyware? Come on. To my experience it was the clear advantage on the design, security and speed (launch and JS speed). It was way ahead of Firefox or IE. I often asked people why they use Chrome they say it feels faster and not cluttered. Sure commercials helped but IMO, it was the word of mouth made it that popular.

josteink 11y ago
Again: When you bundle it as a unwanted drive-by install and steal users' data, it's hard to not call something spyware.
- afsina 11y ago
  >'steal users data' Please. Aren't we all tired of this?
  - josteink 11y ago
    If you download and install App A because you want App A, but unasked App B also gets installed as a paid-for drive-by installation which sets itself as your new default browser, which upon first launch (because its now default) imports all your data, history, bookmarks and passwords from your actual preferred browser and then proceeds to send all this data to App B's vendor without making it clear to you what just happened... How is that not stealing? How is that different from what we usually call spyware? There is nothing legitimate about how Chrome has hijacked a multitude of users' PCs and their data. There's no way to defend this behaviour.
    - yuhong 11y ago
      "proceeds to send all this data to App B's vendor" Proof?
      - josteink 11y ago
        It's called "sync" and you can bet everyone who has a Gmail account who gets asked to "log into Google" when Chrome is opened (as their new default browser) will enter their username and password without giving a second thought to it or realizing what they just authorized. That's ofcourse if they even noticed that their browser now looks slightly different at all. Voila. Data stolen. Or are you going to argue that this represents completely concentfull and legitimately syncing?