Google Chrome pushes ahead with targeted ads based on your browser history::YMMV, based on where you are

  • notannpc@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I like seeing the full cycle of Google Chrome starting out as the hero the world needed, to becoming the bloated pile of stalkerware trash like it had originally replaced.

    Rest in piss Google chrome.

    • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      Was it ever needed? What has chrome provided that wasn’t already available from other 3rd party and/or open source browsers?

      The whole “faster than firefox” thing was greatly exaggerated, didn’t last long, and was at least partially artificial as google has been found to intentionally gimp their sites on non-chrome browsers.

      • StudioLE@programming.dev
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        9 months ago

        Chrome’s UI was light years ahead of the competition. I’d be tempted to say they had an impact on the design of all desktop applications.

        • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yeah when they came out they did absolutely everything right. And they do no evil years they just kept nailing it time after time.

      • notannpc@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        For folks that knew browsers other than Internet Explorer existed, no.

        But for the vast majority of internet users, yes I think it was needed.

    • Ænima@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.

    • weew@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      have they not already been doing this ever since they created Chrome?

      • dalekcaan@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Yeah it honestly surprises me they haven’t been doing this already. I mean at least on a smaller scale this has been Google’s business model for a while now.

  • Kittybeer@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I had to read the whole article to get to this info: Depending on what Chrome version you’re using, and whether you’ve been selected to start using Topics API, you can switch this functionality off and on by visiting chrome://settings/adPrivacy and/or chrome://settings/privacySandbox – cut’n’paste these URLs into your address bar to jump straight to the controls.

      • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Easier said than done sometimes. Google is already doing what Microsoft used to do. They’re locking G suite features to Chrome, and if your company uses G suite, you made find yourselves in Chrome just so a damn thing works.

        • dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          My company uses G Suite extensively, and I exclusively use Firefox. I haven’t found a single thing that doesn’t work in Firefox thus far.

          Some lawyer somewhere will wind up with a fat payday if some important feature of Gmail/Sheets/Docs gets locked to Chrome exclusively, as soon as anyone notices.

          • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            FF is my daily driver (tho I do have to use other browsers for testing and such). G Suite works great for me in FF as well.

            • porkchop@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              They work great for me in chromium based browsers like Arc or Brave

              • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                And those are basically Chrome.

                WebKit, Gecko, and other rendering engines don’t always get full compatibility, even if they’re super standards compliant.

                • porkchop@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  They use the chrome rendering engine but they are not chrome. You get the best of both worlds. Compatibility with your corporate g suite whatever with a security/privacy-first mindset (at least with Brave)

          • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Unrelated to G Suite, Google search on mobile should work perfectly fine on Firefox, but Google has decided anyone not using chrome will get a “mobile” version of the site. There’s an addon that fixes that by just changing the user-agent string.

        • Klystron@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          Especially with some webapps too. My nas’s only allows you to upload folders through chrome, completely unsupported on Firefox. They do however another service on a different site that does support folder upload on Firefox for some reason though. I don’t get the disconnect.

          • 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            You could ask them when they are going to support uploading through a modern browser like Firefox.

            • DeadlineX@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              There are a lot of webapps only supported by chromium based browsers. A lot of development focuses on popular modern browsers. Firefox market share is under 5%. I use it because google has become more awful every year. I wish everything was supported on Firefox. It uses a different engine which provides challenges for some js and js libraries.

              The amount of dev hours involved has to be justified by the user base that desires the feature. This is the case even for just adding new features. It’s annoying, because I can only test using chrome, and chrome dev tools is way worse than Firefox.

              • 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                If we keep having to justify any development for other browsers, well end up with Chrome having all the market share!

                • DeadlineX@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  I agree. I don’t choose what goes on the board though. And Firefox is less than 5% of the browser market share (likely less than 1% of our customer market share). The money folks are the ones who ultimately decide what gets put in the pipeline. Why would a company care about reducing chromes market share? If we had a bunch or a large customer asking for it, then we’d likely do something to fix the Firefox issues.

                  Being a modern browser doesn’t really matter. What matters to companies is their user base and the needs there in. Increasing profits and (if they’re a good company) user satisfaction. Majority will always outweigh the few in these cases.

        • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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          9 months ago

          I encounter a site that will only work in Chrome based browsers (or at least won’t work in Firefox) about once a month. I’ve yet to encounter one that will only work in Chrome proper.

    • Blizzard@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      You can switch it now but obviously it’s just a matter of time til you won’t be allowed to.

          • yggdar@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            For me it’s Chrome for work, because we’re not allowed to install anything on our machines :(

              • Billiam@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                If they’re not allowed to install their own software, they probably aren’t allowed to use USB drives

                • yggdar@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  You’re absolutely right! USB storage devices are blocked and we don’t have the right to execute arbitrary executables anyway. It is a pretty secure environment.

            • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Apologies, I am the one who makes those decisions. So I give firefox to those who will take it and no matter what I make sure Google isn’t their default search engine.

              • yggdar@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                I manage a team of about 30 people in IT. Your job is not valued enough, and I know the importance of what you do. Thank you for your work!

      • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        And also … When you give users the choice to turn something on or off but don’t tell them that the thing is on and also make it inconvenient for them to turn it off …

        … Most users won’t turn it off.

  • dan@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Install Firefox Install Firefox Install Firefox!

  • nfntordr@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’m happy to get interest based ads so I’ll keep sticking with Chrome.