That's the narrative tech guys tell themselves because they don't care about anticompetitive behavior unless it's a company they don't like. I worked with normal users for years. Half of them weren't aware of what browser they used, much less why.

Anecdotally, I clearly remember when Chrome came out and it was _vastly_ more performant than any other browser, owed to its one-tab-one-process model. I tried it, enjoyed it so I switched from Firefox, and switched all my family from Firefox.

The "average" user just knows "chrome is fast" because for the last 10 years, that's what they've heard. Even a lot of older people I talk to seem to use chrome. This is especially so for the younger generation.

There were a few years there of mainstream "I posted this from internet explorer" with a delayed piece of news or reaction.

I'm not a chrome fan either.

> they don't care about anticompetitive behavior unless it's a company they don't like

If you think that Google generally gets treated positively around here, you haven't spent much time on HN: there's very rarely a Google story that doesn't go negative in the comments. And I'm also quite curious why you think you're the only one around here who "worked with normal users for years".

I also worked with normal users for years (and still do), and actively taught people what a browser was and recommended Chrome on the basis that it was better than everything else.