6 ms·

I don’t think they intend to let Google control anything — least of all the future of the web. They have been burned too badly by them for that. They are more l

I don’t think they intend to let Google control anything — least of all the future of the web. They have been burned too badly by them for that. They are more likely to do what Google did — they used WebKit in the early years of Chrome and then forked it to create Blink once it had gained enough traction. Microsoft is likely to do the same at some point — assuming their browser gains traction. And I, for one, hope it does — and that they make it cross platform. We need an a way to browse the web without Google tracking and Firefox is just not cutting it. And while Safari works, it is not available on other platforms. Regarding the problems with Edge, mainstream websites don’t face problems — but you hit the edge cases (no pun intended) when you try to use it for smaller sites — and especially sites meant for limited audience — e.g. internal websites built by enterprises. They are often tested for Chrome and Firefox only — and maybe Safari if there are significant number of Macs in use. I can’t really blame the developers for not wanting to waste their time on a browser with limited usage and — especially since it often presents challenges not posed by other browsers.

gdwatson 8y ago
"... and Firefox is just not cutting it." What are your objections to modern Firefox? Most of the criticism I've heard is that it's become too much like Chrome. I'm quite happy with it personally.
- satyenr 8y ago
  To be honest, my experience with FF has not be been great in the recent years — although I do acknowledge that it has improved recently. I can’t point my finger at one thing — it was combination of little things that bothered me enough to make me switch to Safari and later Chrome. That said, my comment was directed towards that FF’s market share is plunging rapidly and unless things change drastically, it might become another Opera — a niche browser at best. We need something that can counter Chrome and by extension, Google — something that developers have to support in addition to Chrome. FF has been playing that role nicely so far, but for how long? FF is not cutting it in terms of adoption — in terms of challenging the might of Chrome.
- wlll 8y ago
  As someone who switched from Chrome to Firefox a few months ago my main issues are: * No spellcheck in form fields (without a plugin, and I hate plugins). * It feels slower. There's something about it that just doesn't feel as fast. Mostly things like opening windows etc. * There's some annoying defaults. * Dev tools aren't as good. * Updates aren't installed automatically. I mean, it's close to Chrome, which is good (for me), but it just feels about 5% less polished. It's good enough that I'll stick with it, after all there was a driving force for me to leave Chrome too.
  - sleavey 8y ago
    Spell check just needs a dictionary installed, not a plugin. This takes about three clicks.
    - kkarakk 8y ago
      three clicks i'd never heard out til today(i just got irritated by the lack of functionality and do my form filling in chrome)
    - toofy 8y ago
      I'm guessing they meant "No spellcheck in forms without jumping through more hoops."
      - wlll 8y ago
        Right. When I looked into how to get spell checking in form fields all the advice I could find on the Internet was "install a plugin". It seems to me that spell checking of form fields should be a basic feature integrated into the browser.
    - wlll 8y ago
      I'm on a mac and everything else spell checks just fine, so: 1. Why not Firefox? 2. Why do I have to jump through some undocumented hoops to get something that should work out of the box?
  - x0x0 8y ago
jarcane 8y ago
You really think a Microsoft browser is going to track you less? The same company whose entire OS is deliberately riddled with spyware and tracking, and even managed to sneak telemetry into an open source code editor?
- Endy 8y ago
  It's a different source of tracking, and frankly speaking, we know why Microsoft wants to track us - the same reason they always have. Microsoft wants to sell us more of their own products, generally speaking. It's not about throwing all private data to the open market for the highest bidder. I'd rather have M$ out there looking to sell their own products and services to me than Google looking to sell me to their advertisers and whoever pays them this week.
  - AlexandrB 8y ago
    > Microsoft wants to sell us more of their own products, generally speaking. It's not about throwing all private data to the open market for the highest bidder. This is increasingly not true. Between Bing and adding ads[1] to various parts of Windows 10, I expect Microsoft’a long term business strategy will be increasingly ad-heavy. And you can’t make them un-collect the data they’ve already collected on you. [1] https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft-is-adding-ads-to-the-mail-app-in-windows-10# https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft...
    - JohnBooty 8y ago
      Agreed. As hardware and even operating systems themselves become more or less commoditized, Microsoft sees that the writing is on the wall. They see their future revenue (or at least a significant part of it) coming from advertising and services.
JohnBooty 8y ago
Do we think Microsoft is getting away from maintaining their own browser just so they can go right back into the business of maintaining their own browser? Maybe someday they'll do that but it's hard for me to believe that's the plan they're starting off with.

gdwatson 8y ago

"... and Firefox is just not cutting it." What are your objections to modern Firefox? Most of the criticism I've heard is that it's become too much like Chrome. I'm quite happy with it personally.

satyenr 8y ago
To be honest, my experience with FF has not be been great in the recent years — although I do acknowledge that it has improved recently. I can’t point my finger at one thing — it was combination of little things that bothered me enough to make me switch to Safari and later Chrome. That said, my comment was directed towards that FF’s market share is plunging rapidly and unless things change drastically, it might become another Opera — a niche browser at best. We need something that can counter Chrome and by extension, Google — something that developers have to support in addition to Chrome. FF has been playing that role nicely so far, but for how long? FF is not cutting it in terms of adoption — in terms of challenging the might of Chrome.
wlll 8y ago
As someone who switched from Chrome to Firefox a few months ago my main issues are: * No spellcheck in form fields (without a plugin, and I hate plugins). * It feels slower. There's something about it that just doesn't feel as fast. Mostly things like opening windows etc. * There's some annoying defaults. * Dev tools aren't as good. * Updates aren't installed automatically. I mean, it's close to Chrome, which is good (for me), but it just feels about 5% less polished. It's good enough that I'll stick with it, after all there was a driving force for me to leave Chrome too.
- sleavey 8y ago
  Spell check just needs a dictionary installed, not a plugin. This takes about three clicks.
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    three clicks i'd never heard out til today(i just got irritated by the lack of functionality and do my form filling in chrome)
  - toofy 8y ago
    I'm guessing they meant "No spellcheck in forms without jumping through more hoops."
    - wlll 8y ago
      Right. When I looked into how to get spell checking in form fields all the advice I could find on the Internet was "install a plugin". It seems to me that spell checking of form fields should be a basic feature integrated into the browser.
  - wlll 8y ago
    I'm on a mac and everything else spell checks just fine, so: 1. Why not Firefox? 2. Why do I have to jump through some undocumented hoops to get something that should work out of the box?
- x0x0 8y ago

jarcane 8y ago

You really think a Microsoft browser is going to track you less? The same company whose entire OS is deliberately riddled with spyware and tracking, and even managed to sneak telemetry into an open source code editor?

Endy 8y ago
It's a different source of tracking, and frankly speaking, we know why Microsoft wants to track us - the same reason they always have. Microsoft wants to sell us more of their own products, generally speaking. It's not about throwing all private data to the open market for the highest bidder. I'd rather have M$ out there looking to sell their own products and services to me than Google looking to sell me to their advertisers and whoever pays them this week.
- AlexandrB 8y ago
  > Microsoft wants to sell us more of their own products, generally speaking. It's not about throwing all private data to the open market for the highest bidder. This is increasingly not true. Between Bing and adding ads[1] to various parts of Windows 10, I expect Microsoft’a long term business strategy will be increasingly ad-heavy. And you can’t make them un-collect the data they’ve already collected on you. [1] https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft-is-adding-ads-to-the-mail-app-in-windows-10# https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/192251/microsoft...
  - JohnBooty 8y ago
    Agreed. As hardware and even operating systems themselves become more or less commoditized, Microsoft sees that the writing is on the wall. They see their future revenue (or at least a significant part of it) coming from advertising and services.

JohnBooty 8y ago

Do we think Microsoft is getting away from maintaining their own browser just so they can go right back into the business of maintaining their own browser? Maybe someday they'll do that but it's hard for me to believe that's the plan they're starting off with.