People here seem to be underestimating the advantages that Google gets just because of Chrome:

- When you sign in to Google, you sign in browser-wide. Google now gets all of your browsing data, perfect for advertising. (If you ever doubt it, go check out Google Takeout. You'll be shocked at the amount of data you see there.)

- They have special APIs and features that they get to use, and nobody else. Only because they own Chrome. [1]

- They get to move forward with enabling and pushing features that allow for more advertising: see Manifest v3, FLoC.

- Google specifically serves a worse version of Search on Firefox for Mobile. You have to get an extension to get the full experience.

This isn't an isolated attempt. You can see more of the same thing with Android.

- AOSP (the open source counterpart of Android) is now unusable. It doesn't ship with most essential apps, including a Phone app. In previous versions of Android, all of these were a part of AOSP.

- Most third party launchers/stores struggle to implement features because they are only available for Google themselves.

- The signing in with Google thing from above continues here too: you sign in to Google system-wide.

[1]: https://x.com/lcasdev/status/1810696257137959018

I'm all for competition and increasing consumer choices, but the government is really not making a case that this is supposed to help consumers.

The only reason I still use Chrome is because I already use other Google products and they integrate well together. There are many other better options out there otherwise, and they are all free. Breaking out Chrome from Google will not in any way benefit me as a consumer.

> The agency and the states have settled on recommending that Google be required to license the results and data from its popular search engine

> They are also prepared to seek a requirement that Google share more information with advertisers and give them more control over where their ads appear.

It sounds like the end goal of this is to enrich other companies, not customers. And if the DOJ has their way, they want to crack open Google's vault of customer data and propagate it across the internet.

Not only does this sound extremely bad for consumers, the DOJ is trying to completely change Google's business model and dictate how they are supposed to make money. Regardless of how you feel about Google, this seems like a far overreach from the DOJ on finding and fixing market manipulation.

I'm totally fine with this, but I wish they would do the same thing with Apple. Google's platform, at the very least is open and I can run my own apps.

One could ask, "How is Apple a Monopoly, and do they abuse that position?". In my view it is, since you can't have a business or build connected hardware without an iOS app. And as for abusing that position for gaining market share, there are just too many examples starting with say, watches.

Who would possibly buy Chrome? Letting any of the large tech companies purchase it (the only possible buyers) would just give someone else monopolistic power.

Chrome can’t exist as a standalone business without being even more consumer hostile.