Have you read that we live in The Golden Age of Browsers? With one exception, I agree. Safari is the world’s second most used browser, thanks to the Mac’s resurgence and the growing installed base of iPhone and iPad users, but still pales in usage to Google’s Chrome.
Guess which one you should dump?
Google isn’t my favorite so-called technology company (they are really an advertising company that uses home-grown technology) but the reasons to dump Chrome as the browser of choice are many and varied; some performance oriented, some based upon Google as the owner, and others based upon what browsers do to their users.
Google publishes Chrome because the Google business model requires that internet users be tracked to the point of stalking, and what better way than to give users a common browser so they are more easily tracked, which makes it easier to grab personal data and use it to line the company’s advertising coffers.
Gmail? Google Docs? Maps? YouTube? Pixel smartphones? Each has a purpose which is to grab user data to sell ever more advertising. That makes Chrome the world’s second worst stalker platform (Facebook is worse) on planet earth.
If you don’t use Google Chrome, then what should or could you use? Alternatives abound and Safari is a good one except for one reason. Apple is in bed with Google to the tune of a few billion dollars a year to keep Google’s search engine as the default search engine in Safari.
Yes, you can select a different search engine. Most people do not so they continue to be tracked while online.
The past year or two we’ve been treated to a growing trend toward privacy and security, especially with browsers which block advertisements and trackers. Among those I like and use are the new Brave, Mozilla’s hot Firefox Quantum (visibly faster), among others. If you want true minimalism and no tracking, there’s always Min. As in minimum.
In other words, alternatives to Google’s Chrome abound. Firefox has many of the same add-on extensions, far more built-in privacy options, it’s notably faster and less of a resource hog. Even the venerable Opera has improved recently– faster, more secure, tracker blocker built-in, plus a free VPN. Of course, Opera is owned by the Chinese, so there’s that.
Google has become like a corner candy vendor who gives out free samples to get kids hooked, then gets them to do his bidding. Google has free apps in exchange for following you online. How can that be good for you?