Selling user browser data obviously won't fly (and note that Google has never explicitly nor directly sold user's browsing data as far as I know, but they do have a huge ad network that utilises cookies...), so what's the plan? Put ads in the browser? "Premium" features?
The only thing I can think of is highjacking links to Amazon et al to insert referral codes en masse, or selling links/ads on new tab pages.
Why not sell premium features?
Why not add affiliate codes to links?
Why not sell ads on new tab pages?
All of these are fine examples of how a not-Google Chrome could make money. They could even get paid by Microsoft or some other not-Google search for that traffic.
This isn't hard unless you're trying to make it hard to convince us all we should just give up and let Google continue running our online lives through monopolization.
> Why not sell premium features?
> Why not add affiliate codes to links?
> Why not sell ads on new tab pages?
Ah yes, would love more of all this in my browser.
Sounds to me that taking chrome away from Google will be a net-negative for the users.
The details could be worked out. The idea is to make big corporations pay while keeping it free for users.