> They care about having a simple, fast browser who just works.

And the "just works" part won't happen without the other browsers' competition. It will become "just works with other Google products, for those who hold the same values as Google holds".

Case in point: on a fresh install of Ubuntu googling for adblock using Firefox (yes, I know, stupid) leads straight to Google ramming Chrome down your throat.

People said this about IE as well.

In fact, what's often forgotten is that even before MS's illegal monopolization, IE dominated Netscape because it was genuinely better.

But a few short years later it was regular end users who were suffering due to IE and it's lack of competition, which led to MS sleeping on it and letting security issues (both technical and social) pile up.

Exactly. So what if Google controls the internet experience through Chromium. The user will have to pay someone eventually. Firefox is not a free magic bullet.

On the other hand, much bigger problems in the world, so we go build something else instead of reinventing what Google has already built.