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Comment by mumblemumble | Hacker News Reader

Some corporations did that. Most didn't. The main reason IE dominated was that most people didn't care, and stuck with the default. The main reason old versions of browsers were more common than new ones was that self-updating browsers hadn't become a thing yet, and most people didn't care, and just stuck with the default. The reason most browsers stay up-to-date now is that modern browsers are all configured to self-update by default, and most people don't care, and stick with the default.

I have never bought a prebuilt Windows PC, so this is pure speculation, but I am wildly guessing that the dominance of Chrome is because computers are now coming with Chrome preinstalled and configured as the default, and most people don't care, and just stick with the default.

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My experience was that IE finally got bad enough (around version 8), and Chrome got good enough, that even "grandmothers" started having everyone telling them to use Chrome, and it was so incredibly superior that you didn't have to be technical to appreciate it.

Now the reason everyone uses it is because it's psychologically the new "default", whether it is on the actual system or not. Everybody knows that's just what you do when you get a new computer: you go install Chrome. And the irony is that even now, with Edge being basically the same thing, most people don't bother to re-evaluate that default assumption that "the windows browser is bad". They just use Chrome.

> most people don't bother to re-evaluate that default assumption that "the windows browser is bad"

That's one way to look at it.

Another way is to say that Microsoft has lost customer's trust and now has to work extra hard to earn it back.

IMO they've learned their lesson, at least for now, but it would also be great if others could learn from Microsoft's mistake too.

> I have never bought a prebuilt Windows PC, so this is pure speculation, but I am wildly guessing that the dominance of Chrome is because computers are now coming with Chrome preinstalled and configured as the default

I'm not aware of any Windows machines shipping with Chrome pre-installed. But as soon as you use any website that's owned by Google you get spammed with install links for Chrome.

I remember there was a long period where everything would bundle Chrome. One wrong checkbox and your computer would be infested. Adobe Reader was one prominent example.

An entire generation is being raised on Chromebooks. I wish Boot2Gecko and Firefox OS weren’t a bit ahead of themselves and had better ugh marketing.

Entire generation where? Let's say I saw exatly 1 guy with a chromebook through my life, and likely chromebooks weren't even officially sold in my country. And still Chrome is the most popular browser here.

Chromebooks outsold Macs in 2020 and schools all over the US are pushing Chromebooks on students because they're affordable and accessible to most people.

https://www.geekwire.com/2021/chromebooks-outsold-macs-world...

So it looks like we are talking about the States. Meanwhile Chrome dominates pretty much globally, and it doesn't correlate with Chromebooks adoption.

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