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0 pointsGeekyBear7y ago0 comments

I'd say that sneaking an install of your product onto people's computers when they are not expecting it is exploiting a dark pattern.

However, the point was that Chrome didn't mysteriously gain market share solely based on some sort of technical superiority.

Google paid to gain market share with the sorts of clueless users who click next during install wizards without reading anything.

0 comments

joering27y ago

My point was Google didn't pay anything to gain the market share because they advertise Chrome on their frontpage, something neither Firefox, nor IE, nor Opera nor Safari, nor anyone else in that matter could do.

GeekyBearOP7y ago

From an antitrust law point of view, using your monopoly status in one area as a weapon against the competition in other areas is something that likely gets you in trouble.

Although, it helps to remember that in the EU, you don't need nearly as big a market share before their competition law kicks in and places restrictions on your behavior, so things that you can still get away with in the US can be quite illegal in the EU.

josteink7y ago

They paid to have it bundled as a drive-by install in other popular software, spyware-style.

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