Post

Something completely underappreciated in how Google Chrome revolutionized the web and security and software in general — was the silent background auto-update + and non-admin user-level installs. It set a bar that changed everything on ability to make progress & address threats. Broke IT paradigms.

When Chrome came out, IT admins kept asking how it was possible users were installing it without admin? That's because they did not really understand the system. Developers and attackers in XP days were so used to users having admin they rarely bothered trying to make anything work without it.

However, Chrome was happy to install its files in the user's own profile, not the system level-level directories needing admin. You can do anything you want in your own profile. Chrome set up shop, slapped shortcuts on Desktop and Start Menu, there's no user-exposed difference in the end result.

Omg commentary from someone who was there at Google! I was going to get around to Omaha but it's possibly too in-the-weeds. It's unfortunate so many rely on weaker less mature and secure update system alternatives to it, but they are dumb-simple. bsky.app/profile/h.ol...

Most people talking about Chrome's innovations would first highlight the security sandboxing and V8 JavaScript, but it was truly a revolutionary epoch in ecosystem norms. Or, why don't you hear about PDF hacks much anymore? ~Adobe adopted Chrome sandbox code. (Fun fact IE7 had sandbox long story)

Chrome also gets some credit later on for using their dominance in the browser market to force sites toward ssl adoption. and at the time drew flak for such a hardline stance on not tls.

I loath how Chrome (and later Teams) decided it was a good idea to install themselves into $UserData$; It breaks the paradigm of separating code and data. It also opened a whole new vector of attacks - Don't crack the OS, just pwn the user, and run your backdoors in $UserTemp, leeching their data.

$HOME has been that for decades on every OS but Windows. You could always install binaries there. So no, only (rather modern) Windows decided this was a thing in the first place.