You missed paren't point. It's not about if you can see the changes immediately in the next release, it's that you have to be constantly vigilant as to what they're going to do next, like looking over your shoulder.
You can do that, but it's time consuming and exhausting. You're better off switching browsers.
That's overly dramatic. Both Chrome and Firefox are excellent browsers, and are developed in the open for all to see. They are examples of open source done right.
> Both Chrome and Firefox are excellent browsers, and are developed in the open for all to see.
I still think you're misunderstanding. The problem is that Google as an organization has the incentive to pull shady shit. It may be noticed, but watching Reddit/HN to see if your browser, which should protect you/be trustworthy, is pulling shady stuff, or whether you may've missed a story of it doing so is still exhausting and keeps you wondering.
All companies have the potential to do shady things. The majority of Google's changes to Chrome have benefited end-users, and not Hacker News goers. We live in a bubble here, and lately it's been an outrage bubble. There's little substance to any of it.
A recent example: Hackers hate the idea of removing "www". Why? Because it's less accurate and we love accuracy. We think about what happens to the DNS if the www isn't a CNAME for the root, and how this isn't technically accurate.
Real users don't care. The UI is cleaner and make important information like what domain they're actually on more pronounced. This may help reduce phishing attacks and make URLs more legible.
Integrating sync is the same way. I'm not surprised that hackers hate it, but end users will appreciate the convenience. Android had the feature for years already.
We need to get out of this bubble and stop assuming we're the core audience. It isn't evil to design for somebody that isn't us.
You can do that, but it's time consuming and exhausting. You're better off switching browsers.