6 ms·

> The reason this is true is simply because it's dominant And I remember a time where it wasn't dominant, where people went out of their way to install it, eve

> The reason this is true is simply because it's dominant And I remember a time where it wasn't dominant, where people went out of their way to install it, even when their OS would shove other browsers in their face... It didn't become dominant by being a bad browser...

shepherdjerred 4y ago
Chrome is definitely a good browser. It helped evolve the web. But, I don't think that Chrome today is much ahead of other browsers aside from compatibility.
shakow 4y ago
> where people went out of their way to install it You mean, when Google went out of his way to make people install it. It is delusional to believe that the average PC user installed Chrome for its technical merit. They installed Chrome because there were advertisements everywhere, from subway to Youtube, and, above all IMHO, because ‶the Internet (understand google.com) said I have to install Chrome to go fast″. And that's not counting the heaps of installs that must have come from Chrome being bundled in adware installers and sneakily setting itself as the default browser.
- Gareth321 4y ago
  I don't buy this. Advertising is effective but advertising alone wouldn't have been enough to build this much momentum. This is all academic, but I don't consider most people idiots. I think most people installed Chrome because it had features they wanted or a technical person in their life recommended it. I was one of those technical people recommending Chrome.
  - uni_rule 4y ago
    This, prior to Firefox's "Quantum" rewrite it was simply the best product.
  - markus92 4y ago
    It also got included as junkware with a lot of other freeware applications, back when that was still a thing.
  - shakow 4y ago
    > I think most people installed Chrome because it had features they wanted Just go ask people from you family using Chrome why they do so, I bet at least half of them are not even aware they are using Chrome and not just ‶going on Google″.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  It didn't hurt that yes, they advertised it, but I don't think it's fair to discount the effect that the "technorati" had on increasing its adoption. That is, pretty much every tech person I know switched to Chrome because it was just so much better than what existed at the time, primarily its faster JS speed with v8, and I think most importantly for actual end-user experience, per-process tab isolation so that one bad tab wouldn't crash the whole browser. These were real, important innovations that had the tech elite quickly adopting Chrome. So what happens once it's adopted by the tech elite? First, they push for making it the default install on new computers, which has a huge effect. Next, every time Mom or Dad or Grandma asks kid/grandkid for tech support, the first thing they do is say "Install Chrome first, that should help with a lot of your problems" - I certainly know I did it with my family members. So while I don't want to discount advertising, I also like to say that it's easy to advertise great products - you just need to let people know the product exists, because eventually the product's benefits are self-apparent.
feanaro 4y ago
When Chrome initially appeared, it was pretty much on par with Firefox, not significantly better. What made it succeed is great marketing and being forced and pushed down every possible Google channel there was, including being preinstalled on Android phones.
- fphhotchips 4y ago
  For significant periods of time in the mid-late 00-s to mid 10s, this just isn't true. Firefox's plugin, process and memory management was significantly worse than Chrome until relatively recently. As a result, for memory limited machines (all of them - remember, 4GB was considered huge), Chrome was the only real choice. I personally gave up on FF for 10 years from 2011 or so because I was sick of the plugin manager crashing and taking the machine with it.
  - feanaro 4y ago
    Maybe in the middle part of that period. I'm saying that when it first appeared, it wasn't clearly superior. I'd argue it's also not clearly superior anymore. To bring my own experience to it, I stuck with Firefox all throughout that period and never had significant bugs, slowdowns or crashes. Though I will admit that there was a period when Chrome felt noticeably smoother.
devjam 4y ago
> It didn't become dominant by being a bad browser... IE6: hold my beer
- shawabawa3 4y ago
  IE6 was by far the best browser at the time it became dominant It just stagnated and became the worst browser over time

shepherdjerred 4y ago

Chrome is definitely a good browser. It helped evolve the web. But, I don't think that Chrome today is much ahead of other browsers aside from compatibility.

shakow 4y ago

> where people went out of their way to install it You mean, when Google went out of his way to make people install it. It is delusional to believe that the average PC user installed Chrome for its technical merit. They installed Chrome because there were advertisements everywhere, from subway to Youtube, and, above all IMHO, because ‶the Internet (understand google.com) said I have to install Chrome to go fast″. And that's not counting the heaps of installs that must have come from Chrome being bundled in adware installers and sneakily setting itself as the default browser.

Gareth321 4y ago
I don't buy this. Advertising is effective but advertising alone wouldn't have been enough to build this much momentum. This is all academic, but I don't consider most people idiots. I think most people installed Chrome because it had features they wanted or a technical person in their life recommended it. I was one of those technical people recommending Chrome.
- uni_rule 4y ago
  This, prior to Firefox's "Quantum" rewrite it was simply the best product.
- markus92 4y ago
  It also got included as junkware with a lot of other freeware applications, back when that was still a thing.
- shakow 4y ago
  > I think most people installed Chrome because it had features they wanted Just go ask people from you family using Chrome why they do so, I bet at least half of them are not even aware they are using Chrome and not just ‶going on Google″.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
It didn't hurt that yes, they advertised it, but I don't think it's fair to discount the effect that the "technorati" had on increasing its adoption. That is, pretty much every tech person I know switched to Chrome because it was just so much better than what existed at the time, primarily its faster JS speed with v8, and I think most importantly for actual end-user experience, per-process tab isolation so that one bad tab wouldn't crash the whole browser. These were real, important innovations that had the tech elite quickly adopting Chrome. So what happens once it's adopted by the tech elite? First, they push for making it the default install on new computers, which has a huge effect. Next, every time Mom or Dad or Grandma asks kid/grandkid for tech support, the first thing they do is say "Install Chrome first, that should help with a lot of your problems" - I certainly know I did it with my family members. So while I don't want to discount advertising, I also like to say that it's easy to advertise great products - you just need to let people know the product exists, because eventually the product's benefits are self-apparent.

feanaro 4y ago

When Chrome initially appeared, it was pretty much on par with Firefox, not significantly better. What made it succeed is great marketing and being forced and pushed down every possible Google channel there was, including being preinstalled on Android phones.

fphhotchips 4y ago
For significant periods of time in the mid-late 00-s to mid 10s, this just isn't true. Firefox's plugin, process and memory management was significantly worse than Chrome until relatively recently. As a result, for memory limited machines (all of them - remember, 4GB was considered huge), Chrome was the only real choice. I personally gave up on FF for 10 years from 2011 or so because I was sick of the plugin manager crashing and taking the machine with it.
- feanaro 4y ago
  Maybe in the middle part of that period. I'm saying that when it first appeared, it wasn't clearly superior. I'd argue it's also not clearly superior anymore. To bring my own experience to it, I stuck with Firefox all throughout that period and never had significant bugs, slowdowns or crashes. Though I will admit that there was a period when Chrome felt noticeably smoother.

devjam 4y ago

> It didn't become dominant by being a bad browser... IE6: hold my beer

shawabawa3 4y ago
IE6 was by far the best browser at the time it became dominant It just stagnated and became the worst browser over time