4 ms·

I will buy an iPhone the day I can choose a different rendering engine for my browser. Or, at minimum, Safari stops being a turd. Just yesterday I watched hila

by clon 8y ago

I will buy an iPhone the day I can choose a different rendering engine for my browser. Or, at minimum, Safari stops being a turd. Just yesterday I watched hilariously how a friend tried to do an online job interview on her iPad. But no MediaRecorder API support. Had to lend her my 200 euro Android burner to get it done. Pathetic. Edit: To be fair, Edge would also have dropped the ball, but then again you probably have FF or Chrome also installed. In iOS you are SOL.

garmaine 8y ago
You know that you can install Firefox on iOS?
- clon 8y ago
  From wikipedia [1]: Firefox for iOS is a browser from Mozilla, for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch mobile devices.[5] It is the first Firefox branded browser not to use the Gecko layout engine as is used in Firefox for desktop and mobile. Due to iOS security restrictions chosen by Apple (specifically the inability to set writable pages executable, which is essential for just-in-time compilation), Firefox has to use the built-in iOS WebKit-based rendering framework instead of Gecko. In short - no Gecko. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_iOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_iOS
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Firefox didn’t use the Gecko engine on Android until a week ago and it’s still in beta. https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/
    - detaro 8y ago
      For Firefox Focus, which is a fairly young (released last year for Android) offshot. The main Firefox for Android has been using its own engine all along.
  - mr_toad 8y ago
    I doubt Gecko is handling the media recorder API. More likely it’s Spidermonkey on most platforms and JavaScriptCore on iOS. MediaRecorder is a working draft. Developers who use draft API and don’t even bother to test on other platforms are cowboys.
  - garmaine 8y ago
    TIL, thank you.
jazoom 8y ago
I am considering making the switch when my Pixel 2XL is no longer getting security updates, but I agree with your point. I don't think I'd pull the trigger unless they stopped that ridiculous behaviour. Every other operating system I've ever used has allowed other rendering engines.
scarface74 8y ago
Or they could have used one of the dozens of apps that have the functionality....
- clon 8y ago
  She was in no position, as a job applicant, to be dictating the company as to what sort of an app they should be using to interview her. They used an online pre-screening tool called Videolind [1] which actually pretty cool. But that is my point - if you force your customers to such a position, albeit for plausible security reasons, you better make sure your browser is top of the game. I still very clearly remember when Jobs showed everyone that you can have a Real Browser in your palm (as opposed to WAP-somethings). You could hear jaws dropping around you. It was glorious! I do not think you get a proper browser with iOS these days. The world has started to be "optimised for Chrome" and this sucks. [1] https://help.videolind.com/article/4-video-does-not-work https://help.videolind.com/article/4-video-does-not-work
  - sneak 8y ago
    > She was in no position, as a job applicant, to be dictating the company as to what sort of an app they should be using to interview her. We're off topic now, but why is that? I frequently get meeting requests to speak to potential clients via Skype, which I decline because I don't use Skype due to built-in surveillance.
dragonsky67 8y ago
I think there is potentially two potential scenarios here. - The company conducting the interview is not aware that the software they are using to conduct interviews does not work on a significant proportion of mobile devices. or - The company conducting the interview is aware that there is a problem and either don't want to employ those who use ios devices, or are using the problem as a test for the candidate to overcome. If I were having to be interviewed/screened via an online process, I think I would anticipate problems and make sure that I had access to a computer running a recent windows and a range of browsers on hand. Web based applications have got a whole lot better at dealing with differences between browsers, but when you get to the more involved processes such as camera/microphone integration, you can still encounter problems if you are not running the systems the software was tested on. Even then, I think you could still have problems if you have just updated your OS or browser to the latest version.
BuckRogers 8y ago
Only Firefox and Chromium-based browsers support MediaRecorder. I use Firefox and have for over 15 years now, since it was in beta, but native browsers (Edge/Safari) are my 2nd choice and what I recommend to others by default due to power usage. That's why Apple restricts you running whatever you want on their devices, and they're correct in doing it. That employer is an entity that more than likely only develops with and expects everyone else to use Chrome, which in this day people have realized is shameful, lazy behavior. If you don't want to support other platforms and all the diversity that entails then you're in the wrong business. I'm glad the tide has finally turned in public opinion on that front. Chrome is the new IE.

by clon 8y ago

garmaine 8y ago

You know that you can install Firefox on iOS?

clon 8y ago
From wikipedia [1]: Firefox for iOS is a browser from Mozilla, for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch mobile devices.[5] It is the first Firefox branded browser not to use the Gecko layout engine as is used in Firefox for desktop and mobile. Due to iOS security restrictions chosen by Apple (specifically the inability to set writable pages executable, which is essential for just-in-time compilation), Firefox has to use the built-in iOS WebKit-based rendering framework instead of Gecko. In short - no Gecko. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_iOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_iOS
- scarface74 8y ago
  Firefox didn’t use the Gecko engine on Android until a week ago and it’s still in beta. https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/
  - detaro 8y ago
    For Firefox Focus, which is a fairly young (released last year for Android) offshot. The main Firefox for Android has been using its own engine all along.
- mr_toad 8y ago
  I doubt Gecko is handling the media recorder API. More likely it’s Spidermonkey on most platforms and JavaScriptCore on iOS. MediaRecorder is a working draft. Developers who use draft API and don’t even bother to test on other platforms are cowboys.
- garmaine 8y ago
  TIL, thank you.

jazoom 8y ago

I am considering making the switch when my Pixel 2XL is no longer getting security updates, but I agree with your point. I don't think I'd pull the trigger unless they stopped that ridiculous behaviour. Every other operating system I've ever used has allowed other rendering engines.

scarface74 8y ago

Or they could have used one of the dozens of apps that have the functionality....

clon 8y ago
She was in no position, as a job applicant, to be dictating the company as to what sort of an app they should be using to interview her. They used an online pre-screening tool called Videolind [1] which actually pretty cool. But that is my point - if you force your customers to such a position, albeit for plausible security reasons, you better make sure your browser is top of the game. I still very clearly remember when Jobs showed everyone that you can have a Real Browser in your palm (as opposed to WAP-somethings). You could hear jaws dropping around you. It was glorious! I do not think you get a proper browser with iOS these days. The world has started to be "optimised for Chrome" and this sucks. [1] https://help.videolind.com/article/4-video-does-not-work https://help.videolind.com/article/4-video-does-not-work
- sneak 8y ago
  > She was in no position, as a job applicant, to be dictating the company as to what sort of an app they should be using to interview her. We're off topic now, but why is that? I frequently get meeting requests to speak to potential clients via Skype, which I decline because I don't use Skype due to built-in surveillance.

dragonsky67 8y ago

I think there is potentially two potential scenarios here. - The company conducting the interview is not aware that the software they are using to conduct interviews does not work on a significant proportion of mobile devices. or - The company conducting the interview is aware that there is a problem and either don't want to employ those who use ios devices, or are using the problem as a test for the candidate to overcome. If I were having to be interviewed/screened via an online process, I think I would anticipate problems and make sure that I had access to a computer running a recent windows and a range of browsers on hand. Web based applications have got a whole lot better at dealing with differences between browsers, but when you get to the more involved processes such as camera/microphone integration, you can still encounter problems if you are not running the systems the software was tested on. Even then, I think you could still have problems if you have just updated your OS or browser to the latest version.

BuckRogers 8y ago

Only Firefox and Chromium-based browsers support MediaRecorder. I use Firefox and have for over 15 years now, since it was in beta, but native browsers (Edge/Safari) are my 2nd choice and what I recommend to others by default due to power usage. That's why Apple restricts you running whatever you want on their devices, and they're correct in doing it. That employer is an entity that more than likely only develops with and expects everyone else to use Chrome, which in this day people have realized is shameful, lazy behavior. If you don't want to support other platforms and all the diversity that entails then you're in the wrong business. I'm glad the tide has finally turned in public opinion on that front. Chrome is the new IE.