> I still prefer a open source chromium base vs a proprietary IE (or whatever else) Web Engine dominating.

Okay but that's not the tradeoff I was suggesting for consideration. Ideally nothing would have dominated, but if something was going to win I don't think it would have been IE retaking all of firefox's ground. And while I liked Opera at the time, that takeover is even less likely.

> Also I do believe, the main reason chrome got dominance is simply because it got better from a technical POV.

Partly it was technical prowess. But google pushing it on their web pages and paying to put an "install chrome" checkbox into the installers of unrelated programs was a big factor in chrome not just spreading but taking over.