4 ms·

Google Chrome: * Got years of free advertising real estate on the most visited website on the internet, but hid the ads if you were using Chrome already * Pay

Google Chrome: * Got years of free advertising real estate on the most visited website on the internet, but hid the ads if you were using Chrome already * Payed the likes of AVG, Avast, Adobe, Oracle and others to have their own software installers automatically install Chrome and make it the default browser unless you uncheck the boxes * Repeatedly leveraged nonstandard and Chrome-specific APIs (Polymer v0) on their websites which caused other browsers to need slow and clunky polyfills.

mhermher 4y ago
Your second point is such a lost gem of history. I still remember it well and remember how upset it made me. But it seems the world has forgotten, and just assumes that Chrome just meteorically shot up in usage just on its merit. Did you just update Java? Looks like a new browser you've never used is your default now.
- izacus 4y ago
  Just like you've seem to have forgotten just how much lighter and faster Chrome was that people took to preferring it without looking at Java installers. It had to compete against the default interenet icon on both major operating systems and the OSes themselves were marketing themselves loudly as well.
- VancouverMan 4y ago
  Neither of those things would necessarily keep users using Chrome, however. Once exposed to it, many people chose to continue using Chrome because Chrome offered a better experience than browsers like Firefox and IE did at the time. Early on, Chrome felt faster and sleeker than its competitors, without sacrificing functionality.
izacus 4y ago
And none of that comes close to being installed as a default handler for every single web interaction as Safari and IE/Edge were. Chrome, for a long time, was simply _better_. It's bizarre how you want to erase history when we installed Chrome originally because of how much darn faster it was than Mozilla (not to mention IE7 and that crap).
guywithahat 4y ago
You've forgotten the part where browsers at the time sucked. They crashed all the time and were slow, and chrome was 1000x better than anything that existed on the market. It was a significantly better browser which is why everyone chose to abandon their web engines and move over

mhermher 4y ago

Your second point is such a lost gem of history. I still remember it well and remember how upset it made me. But it seems the world has forgotten, and just assumes that Chrome just meteorically shot up in usage just on its merit. Did you just update Java? Looks like a new browser you've never used is your default now.

izacus 4y ago
Just like you've seem to have forgotten just how much lighter and faster Chrome was that people took to preferring it without looking at Java installers. It had to compete against the default interenet icon on both major operating systems and the OSes themselves were marketing themselves loudly as well.
VancouverMan 4y ago
Neither of those things would necessarily keep users using Chrome, however. Once exposed to it, many people chose to continue using Chrome because Chrome offered a better experience than browsers like Firefox and IE did at the time. Early on, Chrome felt faster and sleeker than its competitors, without sacrificing functionality.

izacus 4y ago

And none of that comes close to being installed as a default handler for every single web interaction as Safari and IE/Edge were. Chrome, for a long time, was simply _better_. It's bizarre how you want to erase history when we installed Chrome originally because of how much darn faster it was than Mozilla (not to mention IE7 and that crap).

guywithahat 4y ago

You've forgotten the part where browsers at the time sucked. They crashed all the time and were slow, and chrome was 1000x better than anything that existed on the market. It was a significantly better browser which is why everyone chose to abandon their web engines and move over