Despite realizing and ruling that Google was and is a monopoly in search and advertising, Judge Amit Mehta has decided that Google can keep control of one of the biggest tools in maintaining that monopoly, the Chrome browser. How do devs feel about this?

Did you breathe a sigh of relief when you heard this news that Chrome would stay with Google. I did even though I was hoping for a shakeup. Of course, with AI on the scene some sort of shakeup is on the way no matter what the law decides. Google can hold back the AI tsunami for a while, but it is going to happen anyway with the death of search as we know it. 

Google and Chrome are a force, not for good, but for simplicity. There is just one de facto standard when it comes to testing web apps - with a side order of Firefox. We tend to take it for granted that if it works for Chrome that's enough testing and we might get round to loading it in Firefox if there is time. The idea that Chrome rules the browser world, it now has over 70% of the desktop, more if you include Chromium-based browsers such as Edge, is disappointing but very convenient. 

There is no doubt that if Google lost Chrome to another company it would be come just another browser and eventually we would have a plurality of browsers that were important. This is good and bad - and we would almost certainly need jQuery to iron out the differences.

The court ruling allows Google to keep Chrome and to make deals with partners to promote its search engine and Chrome. This is also mixed news because without Google Firefox would probably vanish as it is mostly funded by Google money. What Google cannot do is require such a deal by enforcing use restrictions - e.g. access to Play.  Another condition that would have been good news just a short while ago is that Google is going to have to share some search index data and user metrics to selected competitors. This would have been a big thing as it might make creating alternative search engines easier, but today the war has moved on from search to AI overviews. 

This is a win for Google, but it still plans to appeal the case which means even these small changes are unlikely to be implemented in a time frame where they might have some relevance. 

It's the status quo all the way down.

More Information

Statement on decision in the case involving Google Search

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