nikhil.io

Chrome-Plated Turd

I’ve switched to Firefox on both desktop and mobile. Opened up Chrome to test a project, was greeted by this lovely home page, and the dogs started barking in my head.

A vertical screenshot of a super busy and shitty mobile web browser homepage featuring a Google search bar, app shortcuts, a Pick a theme prompt, and a Customize homepage menu.

We have “Enshittification” and “Dickovers”. I need to workshop a word for this sad melange of shit. I have a lot of thoughts when I see tasteless things like this from Tech. What is the structure of the company that created this? Who okayed this? What are the incentives of the people who lead teams that produce something like this? Do they have launch parties? Are they genuinely proud of shipping ‘experiences’ like these?

Do they use their own products? Are they as sad and frustrated when they do? Do they ever talk to their users? Do they see them try and use their products? Do they review and discuss the feedback? Do they give a shit? Does it end at shareholders and salaries?

Is anyone at the company capable of saying and allowed to say What the actual fuck is this?

Here it is as a Mondrian piece, courtesy of Google Gemini.

An abstract Piet Mondrian–style painting based on a phone screenshot layout, composed strictly of geometric gridlines and solid color blocks in red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and gray.

Deep breaths.