4 ms·

I think trying to fight a browser engine monoculture is a lost cause. There is no money in building browser engines and it costs a lot of time and money to crea

I think trying to fight a browser engine monoculture is a lost cause. There is no money in building browser engines and it costs a lot of time and money to create one from scratch. The only reason Mozilla and Microsoft still use their own engine is for historical and technical reasons. The fact that we are down to just three implementations should tell you were things are headed.

thomastjeffery 9y ago
Mozilla is currently working hard on Servo, and regularly merging finished pieces into Firefox. Microsoft will likely always use their own engine, simply because they are obsessed with proprietary software.
- bobajeff 9y ago
  Sure that's how it is today but what if Mozilla runs out of funds? Say they fail to get a lucrative search deal after the current one ends while Pocket fails to pick up the slack. What if Microsoft doesn't ever get a significant number of users on Edge? Say websites and users alike treat it like Windows Phone.
  - thomastjeffery 9y ago
    > what if Mozilla runs out of funds? That is a very unlikely edge case. If it were to happen, Servo is an open-source project, and would likely still see development. > What if Microsoft doesn't ever get a significant number of users on Edge? That is somewhat more likely, but as much as I can hope, probably will not happen. At least Edge renders fairly correctly. > like Windows Phone. Windows Phone simply failed to get inertia. Inertia is imperative for proprietary projects to succeed.
    - bobajeff 9y ago
      I think Mozilla is already cutting projects because they know their next search deal won't be as lucrative as their previous ones. Software development costs money. Edge came out in 2015 if it doesn't have inertia yet then you have to at least wonder if it's another Windows Phone.
      - thomastjeffery 9y ago
        > if [Edge] doesn't have inertia yet then you have to at least wonder if it's another Windows Phone. I would venture to say that it does have inertia. As a browser, it does not need anywhere near the inertia a new closed platform (Windows phone) does.
        bobajeff 9y ago
        If Microsoft plans on using it to get users on to their services then they'll need way more users than they are getting. Otherwise why invest the money in building one?
Feniks 9y ago
There are still browsers out there made with love and donations. Just let Chrome be the browser for the masses.

thomastjeffery 9y ago

Mozilla is currently working hard on Servo, and regularly merging finished pieces into Firefox. Microsoft will likely always use their own engine, simply because they are obsessed with proprietary software.

bobajeff 9y ago
Sure that's how it is today but what if Mozilla runs out of funds? Say they fail to get a lucrative search deal after the current one ends while Pocket fails to pick up the slack. What if Microsoft doesn't ever get a significant number of users on Edge? Say websites and users alike treat it like Windows Phone.
- thomastjeffery 9y ago
  > what if Mozilla runs out of funds? That is a very unlikely edge case. If it were to happen, Servo is an open-source project, and would likely still see development. > What if Microsoft doesn't ever get a significant number of users on Edge? That is somewhat more likely, but as much as I can hope, probably will not happen. At least Edge renders fairly correctly. > like Windows Phone. Windows Phone simply failed to get inertia. Inertia is imperative for proprietary projects to succeed.
  - bobajeff 9y ago
    I think Mozilla is already cutting projects because they know their next search deal won't be as lucrative as their previous ones. Software development costs money. Edge came out in 2015 if it doesn't have inertia yet then you have to at least wonder if it's another Windows Phone.
    - thomastjeffery 9y ago
      > if [Edge] doesn't have inertia yet then you have to at least wonder if it's another Windows Phone. I would venture to say that it does have inertia. As a browser, it does not need anywhere near the inertia a new closed platform (Windows phone) does.
      - bobajeff 9y ago
        If Microsoft plans on using it to get users on to their services then they'll need way more users than they are getting. Otherwise why invest the money in building one?

Feniks 9y ago

There are still browsers out there made with love and donations. Just let Chrome be the browser for the masses.