OK ...
I am browsing with Firefox v18.0.1 on Windows XP Pro SP3. I went to http://www.google.com/earth/index.html and hit the “Download Google Earth” button on upper right corner. At the next page, I unchecked the “Include Google Chrome etc.” radio buttons and hit the “Agree and Download” button below the legalese. This downloaded an executable installer. I ran the executable installer and it in turn downloaded and installed Google Earth ... current version appears to be 7.0.2.8415, at least on Windows.
Not sure what the problem might be; perhaps you need to update your browser?
I don’t use Chrome, but it has its fans.
Google update installation failed with error 0x80040714
Then when I checked out the Google groups to see what they were saying about it, I saw this error message:
You are using a version of Internet Explorer which Google Groups no longer supports. Some features may not work correctly. Upgrade to a modern browser, such as Google Chrome.
I'm running Windows XP with Internet Explorer version 8.....