Hacker News Reader

Comment by Sakos | Hacker News Reader

You realize that Chrome only became the dominant browser because Google abused their search monopoly, right? 99% of average users don't know bupkiss about browsers, or what the difference is supposed to be. Unless antitrust laws are finally thrown at Google for what they did (and continue to do), I'm not going to criticize Microsoft for employing a similar strategy to break Google's unfair monopoly.

People here are insanely hypocritical for complaining about Microsoft but treating Google like they're innocent.

View on HN

No, Chrome was amazing when it was released, at the time Firefox was slow with an aging architecture and MS was still pushing Internet Explorer.

That's the narrative tech guys tell themselves because they don't care about anticompetitive behavior unless it's a company they don't like. I worked with normal users for years. Half of them weren't aware of what browser they used, much less why.

Anecdotally, I clearly remember when Chrome came out and it was _vastly_ more performant than any other browser, owed to its one-tab-one-process model. I tried it, enjoyed it so I switched from Firefox, and switched all my family from Firefox.

The "average" user just knows "chrome is fast" because for the last 10 years, that's what they've heard. Even a lot of older people I talk to seem to use chrome. This is especially so for the younger generation.

There were a few years there of mainstream "I posted this from internet explorer" with a delayed piece of news or reaction.

I'm not a chrome fan either.

> they don't care about anticompetitive behavior unless it's a company they don't like

If you think that Google generally gets treated positively around here, you haven't spent much time on HN: there's very rarely a Google story that doesn't go negative in the comments. And I'm also quite curious why you think you're the only one around here who "worked with normal users for years".

I also worked with normal users for years (and still do), and actively taught people what a browser was and recommended Chrome on the basis that it was better than everything else.

ITT: People who don't understand shit about how Chrome became the dominant browser. And also so closed-minded as to not want to consider anything beyond "Chrome was better". I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I don't know how people can be so insanely naive and unwilling to look deeper.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com