this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024
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FFS the Chrome thing is nothing even. Who would even want it?
it's a huge deal for google. they control the browser used by the vast majority of users, and the engine behind the one (such as edge, opera, vivaldi, etc) used by still more. they rely on those users to see and interact with ads to make money.
besides the obvious--driving traffic to their web properties that have their ads; they get to siphon off all that sweet user data which makes their ads 'more valuable', and control addon functionality and restrictions as well as the primary 'marketplace' where those addons come from. their ultimate goal of killing off ad blockers completely, the limits mv3 puts on adblockers is just the next step in that direction.
should a third-party acquire control over chrome's development, mv3 gets shredded. restrictions and limitations on adblockers get scaled-back or reverted outright.
That is far too optimistic. If the courts force a sale then a for profit company will but it expecting a return on investment. Which very likely means more monetisation efforts like embedding ads or even more tracking built into it. It is a fantasy to think who ever gets it will scale anything you dislike about it back.
I'd be interested in what restrictions are between those two companies, because it seems to me like there'd be a lot of money in making Chrome what Google wants it to be.
I'm already out. Linux desktop, Firefox browser. It's enough for me. Fuck MS, fuck Google, fuck Apple.
Unless they monetize the wanted Features Like Ad-Blocking. 10$/Month for No Ads everywhere is a Deal that many people would probably Take. Sponsorblock, DeArrow, Video Background Player Fix, there are many QoL Improvements that a Browser Company might include to sell a Browser Subscription or likewise
Just like paying for no ads on prime video? I'd rather donate to one or more independent plugin developers.
Same
But there are a Lot of people Out there WHO pay 15$ for YouTube Premium, If you can get way better content for that Money elsewhere
it also allows them to push web standards in whatever direction they feel like
All good points, but even without Chrome they became one of the biggest companies in the history of Earth. Even without Chrome they'll still have Android and will undoubtedly spit out a Chromev2 browser experience that suckers will flock to - and even without Chrome they'll still likely control all of that search traffic.
Hey if it kills their fingerprinting plans, I'm all for it, but are they going to be prevented from developing a browser? That's like not being allowed to develop a car. Which - again, fine by me, but still unlikely.
Chrome, as the damn-near-monopoly rendering engine, gives Google hegemony over web standards. That's incredibly valuable because it puts them in a position to (e.g.) inflict DRM on the world.
Fair point.
Their desperation to hold onto it speaks volumes about how valuable it is to them. I’m sure they get tons of juicy browsing data that they don’t want to give up.
Yes but how will some other company who doesn't run a successful ad network make aenough money from owning Chrome browser to keep it going?
It's a good question because maintaining a modern web browser is a complicated and expensive project, which any potential buyer would have to sustain financially somehow. Chrome without the integrated ad service business would probably be highly unprofitable - so why would any business take it on?
The only real answer I can come up with is pretty ugly: data mining. Lots of services are dependent on Chrome that can't just move to a new platform on short notice. Chrome is not just the web browser, it's also the web engine for most mobile apps (a lot of apps are just stripped-down Chrome with a hard-coded server target).
Chrome has basically sucked all the air out of the room for other browser projects, so maybe taking it away from Google will create some space for new projects to grow... but it's hard to see any of them becoming well-developed and trustworthy for things like health data, government services, financial transactions &etc anytime soon.
I honestly don't See the Relation to Chrome.
You're suggesting that a PWA running on Firefox isn't suitable for this?
Oh no, Firefox is fine, possibly better than Chrome in that aspect. I'm thinking more about any other browser projects that might come up if Chrome is taken from Google and then collapses.
Or, what happens if a potentially bad actor acquires Chrome, and where does that leave all of the apps that are built around it?
Then they will Switch to another Browser, or there will be a drop-In replacement for Electron.
It's Not that hard for the developers to Block Chrome then