4 ms·

I remember the old days when HN users would promote the hell out of chrome. They loved it, couldn't get enough of it. A few others, including myself, were lik

I remember the old days when HN users would promote the hell out of chrome. They loved it, couldn't get enough of it. A few others, including myself, were like... um guys, this browser is created by a company that makes its money from advertising that shows in browsers, do you really think this is going to turn out well?

ShamelessC 5y ago
You may see this as naive, but there was more confidence in Google (and big tech in general) to continue to "do no evil" in those days. I personally have never been upset with my firefox experience after their big re-write a few version back. The only benefits I see with chrome lately are when sites are clearly designed and tested only for Chrome. Not much of a benefit in the grand scheme of things, obviously.
- Bellamy 5y ago
  And you believed a multinational stock company. I hope you don't make that mistake again.
  - ShamelessC 5y ago
    Uh, okay - I was like twelve at the time so I try not to be too hard on myself (or others) for making similar mistakes. I'm not sure which part of my comment gave you the impression that I had not learned my lesson. Did you just feel like being rude to a random stranger? Or do you really think it's productive to go around blaming victims for getting grifted by professional grifters?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ianmf 5y ago
When Google Chrome came out, it was fast, reliable, secure, and it was not Internet Explorer. Chrome was what everyone needed back then. The competition was Firefox, which performance was getting slower (before Quantum). The problem was that Google shifted priorities for Chrome (or played the long game) to better support Google/Alphabet's interest.
ddingus 5y ago
Tons of people said this. They were all right. So, what's the alternative here? What can people actually do to improve on things?
- Bellamy 5y ago
  Use Firefox, Opera, Brave, or DuckDuckGo browser.
  - ddingus 5y ago
    Got it, and I just set up FF and DDG, full import, default switch. Chrome is hard to get away from!
  - hrez 5y ago
    What's DuckDuckGo browser? - That looks like a fake to me.
smaudet 5y ago
Tech geeks forgot that pointy nosed bosses exist, y'know, the bad ones that seems to invariably hired for "accounting" reasons. The google of old might have been OK, but at this point its as tedious to hear that they are "responsibile" as it was to hear that Microsoft Windows was "more customizable" than a mac and therefore somehow better. (I still know a lot of so called geeks that are ms fans for this reason). A generation of socially unaware engineers got too popular and laid the groundwork for a behemoth that we let get too large... Don't worry, FAANG still exists and is a major problem, the lesson shouldn't be that we need another player, just that monopolies, or things approaching them like big business, are always bad.

ShamelessC 5y ago

You may see this as naive, but there was more confidence in Google (and big tech in general) to continue to "do no evil" in those days. I personally have never been upset with my firefox experience after their big re-write a few version back. The only benefits I see with chrome lately are when sites are clearly designed and tested only for Chrome. Not much of a benefit in the grand scheme of things, obviously.

Bellamy 5y ago
And you believed a multinational stock company. I hope you don't make that mistake again.
- ShamelessC 5y ago
  Uh, okay - I was like twelve at the time so I try not to be too hard on myself (or others) for making similar mistakes. I'm not sure which part of my comment gave you the impression that I had not learned my lesson. Did you just feel like being rude to a random stranger? Or do you really think it's productive to go around blaming victims for getting grifted by professional grifters?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

ianmf 5y ago

When Google Chrome came out, it was fast, reliable, secure, and it was not Internet Explorer. Chrome was what everyone needed back then. The competition was Firefox, which performance was getting slower (before Quantum). The problem was that Google shifted priorities for Chrome (or played the long game) to better support Google/Alphabet's interest.

ddingus 5y ago

Tons of people said this. They were all right. So, what's the alternative here? What can people actually do to improve on things?

Bellamy 5y ago
Use Firefox, Opera, Brave, or DuckDuckGo browser.
- ddingus 5y ago
  Got it, and I just set up FF and DDG, full import, default switch. Chrome is hard to get away from!
- hrez 5y ago
  What's DuckDuckGo browser? - That looks like a fake to me.

smaudet 5y ago

Tech geeks forgot that pointy nosed bosses exist, y'know, the bad ones that seems to invariably hired for "accounting" reasons. The google of old might have been OK, but at this point its as tedious to hear that they are "responsibile" as it was to hear that Microsoft Windows was "more customizable" than a mac and therefore somehow better. (I still know a lot of so called geeks that are ms fans for this reason). A generation of socially unaware engineers got too popular and laid the groundwork for a behemoth that we let get too large... Don't worry, FAANG still exists and is a major problem, the lesson shouldn't be that we need another player, just that monopolies, or things approaching them like big business, are always bad.