| HN Mirror

The Linux kernel is OSS, yet magically gets build collaboratively. And many large OSS projects exist, often more complex than a browser, without a sole source, single corporate backer.

Or, gasp!, even a corporate backers at all.

The modern stack is built upon, and relies upon OSS. Even chromium draws code taken from other projects, and also, relies upon a myriad of OSS libraries and toolsets.

And beyond all of that, Firefox exists is an immensely cash flush environment.

There are endless business models, and OSS development models, without business involvement to make a browser.

The world was doing just fine before chromium came onto the scene. Chrome was pushed by Google's search engine, bundled with Chrome books, Android, on TVs, and more.

Chrome is market dominant partially due to Google's aggressive push for market share.

All this said, your fears are unfounded, and currently one of largest threats to our way of life, to freedom, to democracy, is the entire ad ecosystem.

This ecosystem, in its curent form, simply must die. There are no patches, no fixes which involve any data collection on the user, that allow for co-existance with personal freedom and democratic principles.

Ads need to be served with zero knowledge stored and collected about users, and anonomization is meaningless and proven useless.

Whether Google is broken up or not, Chrome will die soon enough, as a personal spy, and a collection device.

Google's best move right now, is to discover profitability, research how to enable it, without data collection.

Because what has happened to Meta is only the start, what is happening to Google and others in the EU, is coming to the rest of the West, and this business model is over. It's done. Finished.

Execs who are not planning for a corporate future without data collection, are poorly managing, and living in the past.

Google's best move is to see where the market will be without data collection, and use its immense power to move there now.

Before it is too late.