Why does Chrome install itself under user directory instead of Program files?

On Windows 7 (x64), Chrome is installed in:

 C:\Users\userid\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\

Is that better that Program Files? Is it a general best practice?

I suppose it's good (and more secure) to allow each user to have a separate app, but I'm surprised there isn't a C:\Users\userid\Program Files\ directory for that, like on Mac OS X.

Solution 1:

It's so that Google can update the Chrome without asking for administrator privileges. Which, depending on your view can make it more secure or less.

Generally this is really not a best practice as much as it is a developer's decision. Historically developers didn't do it to save space on the disk but that's a moot point nowadays.