3 ms·

> Chrome got ahead of Internet Explorer because it was appreciably faster, and had features like tabs. People say this all the time, but I'm not sure I 100% be

> Chrome got ahead of Internet Explorer because it was appreciably faster, and had features like tabs. People say this all the time, but I'm not sure I 100% believe it. I suspect Chrome's current dominance was mostly fueled by Android and G-Suite. For many people, it became the default browser at work (thanks to enterprise adoption of G-Suite) and on their smartphone. People like familiarity and the incumbent (IE) had a terrible reputation, so Chrome logically became the new normal. I think for the average user performance and features were just bonuses. It's not like Firefox performance or feature parity has historically been bad compared to Chrome. If performance and features were what people craved, Firefox would be doing fine.

untog 6y ago
As someone who was around at the time, it was absolutely because Chrome was a faster and better browser. If I recall Gmail was still in private beta then and Android hadn’t made a big mark yet.
- CivBase 6y ago
  I was also around at the time. Chrome's performance and features were what made it popular with "power users", but they're only a fraction of the market. Businesses were slow to transition thanks to dependence on IE features and, in my experience, most "casual" users could not be bothered to install a new browser. When I'm talking about Chrome's dominance, I'm talking about their dominance across the whole market. It took a long time for me to convince my parents to switch to Chrome. Now I'm running into the same difficulty trying to convince them to switch away from it. I really think that kind of dominance had less to do with performance and features, and more to so with familiarity.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  I think you and the GP are talking about two different things. Chrome’s early adoption on desktop was partly due to people finding it a faster browser, and partly users switching browsers without particularly thinking about it because they were exposed to incessant advertising for Chrome on Google properties. But Chrome definitely went to a whole new level of dominance with the rise of mobile, where a substantial number of people around the world use primarily Android phones for browsing, and thus they start off with the stock browser and never think to change it.
  - perardi 6y ago
    Yeah, I am an old man, and in my dotage, I was definitely thinking of the early desktop Chrome era, where it had more features…and now that I really dredge my memory, it was seemingly the time of never-ending ActiveX security exploits. Mobile Chrome usage is a matter “it’s there”. It’s the system webview, so you’re going to see it at some point, no matter what.

untog 6y ago

As someone who was around at the time, it was absolutely because Chrome was a faster and better browser. If I recall Gmail was still in private beta then and Android hadn’t made a big mark yet.

CivBase 6y ago
I was also around at the time. Chrome's performance and features were what made it popular with "power users", but they're only a fraction of the market. Businesses were slow to transition thanks to dependence on IE features and, in my experience, most "casual" users could not be bothered to install a new browser. When I'm talking about Chrome's dominance, I'm talking about their dominance across the whole market. It took a long time for me to convince my parents to switch to Chrome. Now I'm running into the same difficulty trying to convince them to switch away from it. I really think that kind of dominance had less to do with performance and features, and more to so with familiarity.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
I think you and the GP are talking about two different things. Chrome’s early adoption on desktop was partly due to people finding it a faster browser, and partly users switching browsers without particularly thinking about it because they were exposed to incessant advertising for Chrome on Google properties. But Chrome definitely went to a whole new level of dominance with the rise of mobile, where a substantial number of people around the world use primarily Android phones for browsing, and thus they start off with the stock browser and never think to change it.
- perardi 6y ago
  Yeah, I am an old man, and in my dotage, I was definitely thinking of the early desktop Chrome era, where it had more features…and now that I really dredge my memory, it was seemingly the time of never-ending ActiveX security exploits. Mobile Chrome usage is a matter “it’s there”. It’s the system webview, so you’re going to see it at some point, no matter what.