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> 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 av

by 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.

by shakow 4y ago

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.