We don’t need browser ballots. No desktop operating system comes with Chrome installed. Every desktop user who uses Chrome, willingly goes and downloads it. They explicitly made a choice.
If you do have browser ballots , you’re going to be able to “choose” which Chromium skin you want to use.
Most people know about Firefox and they still choose Chrome.
And if they choose Firefox - they are still downloading a browser where most of its revenue comes from…Google.
No one is going to pay for a browser. Any browser you choose is going to end up supporting itself via ads
OEMs bundle Chrome and for years so did other common apps like Adobe Reader. Android defaults to Chrome on mobile, which is increasingly important for non-technical users who may not even own a laptop or desktop.
These days sites often instruct users to install Chrome, especially Google properties that billions are already accustomed to.
Have we learned nothing from the IE era and the Microsoft anti-trust case?
You’re going to have a hard time convincing regulators that Google is acting monopolistic because it’s forcing less than 4% of the population to use Chrome
Regulators are asleep at the wheel in the US. Companies with a overwhelming market share of search and email can and do leverage that to push users to their browser, then their browser to track users.
It's becoming about control of eyeballs and defaults in several dimensions. Lazy and captured regulators are easily convinced to scope the definition of any given 'market' in whatever way their former or soon-to-be employers demand.
