davidbau.com

Perplexity Chrome would be a Disaster

Perplexity has offered to purchase the Chrome browser if the DoJ forces a split from Google.

That would be a disaster. Software ownership is not just about technology: it is about trust. Think about the community's experience with the Musk purchase of Twitter. It was not just about giving Musk the Twitter technology platform, but about transferring the trust of Twitter users who had invested their "social network capital" into the old management team. Musk's betrayal of that trust destroyed an enormous amount of value, as the previous neutrality and responsible stewardship of the Twitter community was burned to the ground in an effort to turn the platform into quick profits and benefits for the new owners.

Chrome is not just popular because it is good technology. It is popular because Google has established itself as a trustworthy steward of the browser since its creation in 2008. Despite having many incentives to sacrifice user benefits and tilt Chrome strongly towards Google revenue, the company has maintained a user-focused browser design, prioritizing user benefits (on issues such as cookie privacy, https security, configurability, and open-standards support), and avoiding the temptation to turn the browser into a security nightmare. Doing this has required Google to prioritize long-term benefits over short-term profits.

If the government were to force the sale of Chrome to the first upstart willing to pay top dollar, it would be a huge betrayal of that accumulated trust. Like forcing the sale of X to Musk, the new owners would be desperate to recover their investment quickly, and the first thing to go would be any commitment to the long-term view. We'd lose opennness, privacy, neutrality, and user-focus.

Just my view.

Posted by David at August 13, 2025 07:45 PM