IMO when a browser vendor does something like this, I'm not in a rush to sit there and read all their blog posts and give huge consideration to yet another megacorp imposing their will upon me. I just don't want my URL hidden, and I will definitely turn off features like this where possible. (n.b. I don't use Chrome, so its irrelevant for me)
Interesting. http "not secure", but I bet every piece of malware delivered to a user's machine via browser exploit was delivered on an https URL...
BTW, you make some assertions about the feature being more useful for average users -- can you provide any links/documents about this? I am very skeptical, though you are under no obligation to convince me (don't spend the time finding link(s) unless you specifically feel like it). I'd be curious, because I even feel doubtful that there's any solid measurement indicating hiding part of the URL has actually benefited anyone.
The reason for these UI changes is very simple: signaling secure vs insecure via a single character in a string that is meaningless to most people makes it essentially useless. Similarly making "secure" websites get a padlock is not helpful - it's essentially the same as a car engine light, except the engine light is surrounded by a dozen other lights, and it turns off when there's a problem. Unending amounts of research show that that kind of design means people will not notice problems.
This is not to say Google is a shining example of privacy engineering (see their core business model), but you're being incredibly dismissive of the work that their chrome and browser privacy engineering teams do.