Comment by dspillett

> I honestly wonder whether they even have to buy Chrome.

Momentum. Any change of direction they take after such a purchase is taken by a huge number of current users whether they like it or not (unless they dislike it enough to make the effort to switch their daily driver browser).

> They can just fork it.

That would result in much lower user numbers unless their changes are incredibly attractive. Most users will start where they are due, again, to product momentum.