[koalaman]

You could not watch Netflix on Linux until Chrome came along.

You also didn't have very good security from browser exploits until Chrome.

Chrome also made the web significantly faster to use.

Chrome was critical in unblocking the use of Linux on desktop.

[ndriscoll]

I've been using exclusively Linux on the desktop for almost 10 years now. If there was an unblocker, it was wine/Proton, or for laptops, NetworkManager (I remember having a bit of difficulty configuring wpa_supplicant for my university in 2008). I don't even have Chrome/Chromium. Linux on the desktop is enough of a niche/bubble still that it wouldn't surprise me if a large number of other users don't have Chrome either (e.g. I don't use or care about services with DRM, and have it disabled in my browser). Honestly besides flexbox and TLS updates I'm not sure I know of anything useful that's been added to browsers in the last 20 years.

[lukan]

"Honestly besides flexbox and TLS updates I'm not sure I know of anything useful that's been added to browsers in the last 20 years."

Wasm and webgl/webGPU are really useful for anything performance related.

[ndriscoll]

Easily over 99% of what I use a browser for are essentially static pages, so wasm and especially webgpu strike me as extremely niche. Like it's cute that you can run quake in a browser, but I can also just open my start menu and launch quake. For actual web usage (looking up information, shopping, paying my bills, bank transfers, stock trades, etc.), simple, static html is the high performance approach.

[lukan]

Google maps or other map applications are a pretty mainstream feature.

[ndriscoll]

In a browser/on the desktop? I would think everyone would use a dedicated application, probably on their phone. For Linux users in particular, I would be unsurprised if they use OsmAnd. Maps also shouldn't require webgpu or wasm. e.g. XForms made something like a scrollable map application trivial to develop years before wasm was a thing[0]. That shows what could have been a browser improvement if W3C standards were still relevant. Google maps of course predates those things by over a decade.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yYY7GJAbOo

[lukan]

If I want to use google maps, or find a new home - I am not browsing maps with my phone. I use a big screen.

With the browser.

And most real estate sites also do have a map for example.

[fireflash38]

And they've been working quite well with not all that much in ways of improvement for years, if not decades. What's the last huge improvement in maps thats been noticeable to users in the last 5 years?

[lukan]

My google maps experience rather degrades with enshittification, but I do remember the great improvement with webgl (5+ years ago).

[raudette]

Yeah - I think the big problems are solved, and then you start moving into more and more niche cases. I really love being able to flash firmware on ESP32 devices with webserial!

The use of USB authentication devices (FIDO2) is also interesting.

[NetOpWibby]

+1 for Wine, I didn’t bother with Linux until Wine showed up.

[mananaysiempre]

Uh, Wine showed up in June of 1993[1], a full month before the first official release of Windows NT. Not necessarily in a usable form, mind you, but even now the usability is heavily dependent on what specific software you are trying to emulate.

[1] https://gitlab.winehq.org/wine/wine/-/commit/2c25c3e9442c69b...

[lukan]

"Chrome was critical in unblocking the use of Linux on desktop."

Sure, but it was about more people using the internet in general.

The very small minority using linux desktop (hello, I am among them) could and did use the internet before chrome.

And from a technical point of view, I do love chrome dev tools. But that is besides the point.

[mopenstein]

Isn't Android Linux based? The development of chrome on desktop Linux have any benefits for mobile Linux?

[lukan]

The other way around.

"development of chrome on desktop Linux have any benefits for mobile Linux?"

Android is the big market, that gets prime support.

Otherwise android and linux desktop just share the kernel (and not even the same one).

So the developement of chrome on android probably makes it a bit easier to target linux desktop, but not much.

(I still don't have WebGPU on my linux desktop but since quite a while on my old android phone)

[Izkata]

Dolphin Browser was the go-to in the late 2000s for Android.

[belter]

Al Capone did a lot of good on his neighborhood...

[mensetmanusman]

Chrome didn’t murder anyone

[belter]

Neither did Al Capone

[NetOpWibby]

Now that’s a mic drop moment

[korse]

This is the first time I've heard a dedicated Linux desktop user complaining about the inability to watch paid streaming content. What is the world coming to! \o/