[yomlica8]

I can't remember firefox ever being included in installers for flash updates, antivirus, etc with install by default checked either.

Perhaps Chrome did succeed mostly on its own merits, but it wasn't above techniques used by things like Bonzai Buddy and Ask Toolbar to get the job done.

[eitland]

To top it, it could be argued that Chrome is a worse piece of spyware than Bonzi Buddy ever was.

You don't put a single character into the address bar of Chrome without notifying Google.

Yes, even if you are typing a domain instead of planning to search for something you have told Google about it, which means they know everything you visit, both internal websites at work and everything else.