Which point on there specifically bothers you? All of those seem obvious to me - if you use Translate, it goes to Google. Also, a lot of that is disabled when you go to incognito mode; e.g. the search engine prediction in the omnibar. Plus, you can encrypt the data Chrome uses to sync -- see: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1181035?hl=en

Does this apply to Chromium as well? Because if not, there you have it.

They do collect data from chrome (see their privacy policy), but the point you're making isn't too convincing. Having people use Chrome has a number of benefits for google.. from saving money paying browsers to make google the default; to protecting Google from any anti-google moves Microsoft might make in the future using IE.

Without Chrome, Google's business is very dependent on a third-party (the browser developer) who has no loyalty to Google. Long term, it's in google's interest to eliminate such variables in their business.

> why do you think they pay for ads for people to install it? google makes money directly/indirectly from people using chrome, and they do it by collecting data from chrome.

Products don't need to explicitly produce revenue to be worth developing (and advertising). It's shocking to me how this incredibly basic concept is so far beyond the understanding of so many, particularly on HN. Chrome is a particularly easy case, given that, from its inception, it's pushed people towards Google searches. I've lost count of how many times people have pointed out that Android is a failure for Google because they don't make any money off of it (yes really), completely ignoring the fact that a world in which iOS controlled ~100% of the mobile market would be an uncomfortable position for Google (given that internet activity was moving so heavily towards mobile).