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Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts

(www.cnbc.com)
858 points colesantiago | 9 comments | 02 Sep 25 20:26 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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Hansenq ◴[02 Sep 25 21:14 UTC] No.45109151[source]▶
This seems like a very sensible and logical conclusion by the judge to me.

An exclusive contract with Apple/Samsung isn't great, but even Apple testified that they would not have accepted any other searcch engine because everyone else was worse. You can't make restrictions on what Apple is allowed to do because Google violated some law--if Apple wants to make Google the default, they should be allowed to do so! The ban on exclusive contracts makes sense though; they should not be allowed to use contracts to furthur their monopoly position.

And similarly with Chrome; it made no sense to bring Chrome into this equation. Google started, developed, and built Chrome into the best browser available today NOT through exclusive contracts, but because Chrome is just a better product. Users can switch to Firefox/Safari (Mac default)/Edge (Windows default); they don't because Chrome is better. Forcing Google to give up one of its best products is effectively eminent domain by the government to a private company.

With the rise of ChatGPT (I barely use Google anymore) and AI search engines potentially shifting the search landscape, who knows if Google will still be a monopoly 5 years from now. Software moves fast and the best solution to software monopoly is more software competition.

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1. Stratoscope ◴[02 Sep 25 22:55 UTC] No.45110178[source]▶
How is Chrome a better browser than Edge? They are both just custom builds of the underlying Chromium browser.

I switched from Chrome to Edge on my Windows machine a couple of months ago for the embarrassing reason that I had so many tabs open that Chrome slowed down to a crawl.

(Yes, I'm one of those lazy people who uses old tabs as if they were bookmarks.)

Of course I eventually opened enough tabs in Edge that it slowed down too! So I finally bit the bullet and started closing tabs in both browsers.

Otherwise, I hardly notice any difference between the two.

There are bigger differences on my Android device. Edge supports extensions! (Yay!) But it lacks Chrome's "tab group carousel" at the bottom of the screen. Instead, you have to tap an icon to open the full-page list of tab groups, then tap the tab group you already had open, and finally tap the tab you want from this tab group. (Boo!)

So I went back to Chrome on mobile but still use Edge on desktop.

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2. hackinthebochs ◴[02 Sep 25 23:50 UTC] No.45110613[source]▶
Tabs Outliner is my solution to having an absurd number of tabs open. Should be paired with Tabs Session Manager as Tabs Outliner does occasionally lose all your sessions (like once every couple of years).
3. nine_k ◴[03 Sep 25 00:01 UTC] No.45110694[source]▶
Tangentially, there are extensions, such as "Auto tab Discard", that unload tabs from memory, thus avoiding slowdown or memory exhaustion. It allows to keep bunches of tabs as contexts / bookmarks.
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4. LeoPanthera ◴[03 Sep 25 01:20 UTC] No.45111226[source]▶
> How is Chrome a better browser than Edge?

I thought this too, until I actually used Edge. It's quite shocking how much advertising there is in it. The default content sources contain an extremely high proportion of clickbait and "outrage" journalism. It genuinely worries me that this is the Windows default. It's such an awful experience.

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5. jridgewell ◴[03 Sep 25 01:27 UTC] No.45111270[source]▶
This is natively supported in Chrome now: https://www.google.com/search?q=chrome+memory+saver
6. fakedang ◴[03 Sep 25 01:51 UTC] No.45111435[source]▶
Microsoft is so frickking dumb they still haven't managed to grasp why the Google experience was better than the MSN/Bing experience.
7. Stratoscope ◴[03 Sep 25 02:04 UTC] No.45111523[source]▶
That's a fair criticism, but aren't you just talking about the http://www.msn.com/ default home page?

That's easy to change. The first time I opened Edge, I opened Settings, typed "home" into the settings search box, and changed the "Home button" setting to "New tab page", which gives a nice simple page with a search box, like Google.

Is there other advertising you've seen in Edge that is different from Google?

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8. LeoPanthera ◴[03 Sep 25 02:16 UTC] No.45111599{3}[source]▶
Yes, it has all sort of weird promotional things in it that keep popping up. Price comparisons. Coupons. Things like that.
9. caminanteblanco ◴[03 Sep 25 02:26 UTC] No.45111658[source]▶
Have you used edge recently? It feels as bloated and ad-filled as yahoo news. I would take Chrome anyday, and I used to be a proud member of the edge fanclub.