I never understood why so many people thought it was a good idea to hand Google the near monopoly power we had just prevented Microsoft in keeping. And that was AFTER we saw how bad it was that Microsoft had that power.
Too many people go for short term gain for way greater long term losses.
Comment on It's never been a better time to switch to Firefox
ExLisper@linux.community 11 months ago
It was never a good time to switch to Chrome.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
paf0@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Chrome was much faster and more stable than Firefox for a time, but they’re similar now.
C126@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
This is my recollection, when chrome first came out it seemed significantly faster than IE in Firefox at the time, and Google was much less evil big brother at the time.
supercritical@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Back when it was only really known for Search.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
So it’s only feasible to prevent a monopoly now, because it’s convenient? Disregarding the huge inconvenience a monopoly always result in!
paf0@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yes, but not because I didn’t try. I tried Opera and Konqueror for a time and they had some serious rendering problems. Being on the Internet all day for work I kinda just need a browser that works. Firefox is that for me now, but it wasn’t always up to the task.
ExLisper@linux.community 11 months ago
That’s because 99% of people don’t care, exactly the same as with Microsoft. Average person will understand why monopoly is bad when there’s only a single company that sells them gas and suddenly he has to pay $100 per gallon. With tech stuff they simply have no idea. It’s not like they were using IE and thinking ‘It would be so much better if this could pass Acid test’. With Chrome they don’t think ‘it would be nice if this could block youtube ads’ and don’t understand what Google controlling the internet really means. Even governments don’t care about it for the same reasons we do. We don’t like monopoly because of technology and standards. They don’t like it because it slows down economy.
extant@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Google took a novel approach of trying to give people a free product that had value to them and features they wanted in a way that was easy to use. Such a product gave a better experience and only at the cost of someone looking over their shoulder, something that people have grown accustomed from their governments.
Buffalox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
only at the cost of someone looking over their shoulder,
That’s a huge misconception of what’s going on. The consequences are way more far reaching, because Google is also a giant in other aspects. If it was only Chrome, it wouldn’t be nearly as bad.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 11 months ago
People really bought into that “don’t be evil” clause they used to have, and I’m actually astounded they bothered removing it. It’s not exactly legally binding, so why not just leave it there and do evil shit anyway?
Buffalox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I feel like it actually got worse after they removed it. Although the signs were beginning to show.
Aux@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I use Chrome for development purposes only. Dev tools in Chrome are much better still. Firefox dev tools used to be a complete mess, they are better now, but still not a match to Chrome.
But for everyday browsing it’s Firefox for me.
vimdiesel@lemmy.world 11 months ago
most people don’t give af which browser they use. they trust the brand of google because the search engine was “the best” so they moved from firefox/edge over to chrome thanks to an advertising blitz and deals with vendors to put chrome on laptops
Buffalox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Many people that are not very tech minded, are very well aware that Google has become to big, and control and know to much. Yet they use Google services, because they are default, and they don’t know how to change it or use alternatives. That’s probably the case for about 90% of people, which is why defaults are so powerful.
Nath@aussie.zone 11 months ago
When it was released, Chrome was revolutionary. Sandboxing individual tabs into their own processes was a stroke of genius. Until then, if a single site ate up all your memory and crashed your browser, all your tabs/sites died and you had to start again.
It really was the best browser for a hot minute before others copied the idea.
supercritical@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Totally agree. I also knew this was Google’s modus operandi. The early versions of their software can be amazing and they slowly monetize over time.