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Crazy idea. what would happen if firefox would also become chromium based? You would now have a browser as fast as chrome but with better privacy features that

Crazy idea. what would happen if firefox would also become chromium based? You would now have a browser as fast as chrome but with better privacy features that chrome will never compete against. If chromium is open source other companies could share the control over code right? I suspect this is a terrible idea but still trying to find out why.

oAlbe 8y ago
Firefox as it is now is much faster than Chrome already.
- Semaphor 8y ago
  Not even close. I wrote a comment [0] with my examples recently. I like FF (though besides Containers, most reasons boil down to "it's not Chrome"), but fast is a word I'd only use in comparison to IE/Edge. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18620671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18620671
pjc50 8y ago
Having different rendering engines means that at least theoretically the W3C are in control of web standards; having only one rendering engine, Chromium, means the W3C is irrelevant and the standard is "what Chomium does".
ajvs 8y ago
You'd lose out on the WebRender and all the other Quantum/Servo-related improvements, their influence over web standards, their extended extension APIs and pretty much all respect they've built up over the years.
Yoric 8y ago
I know it's a tempting thought. Mozilla has certainly evaluated (and discarded) this possibility – as you mention, it's not a good idea. I posted a few reasons for this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655028 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655028 Also > If chromium is open source other companies could share the control over code right? The sole governing body for Chromium is Google. Other companies get exactly as much control as Google decides. That's the opposite of, say, the Linux Kernel or Rust. It is my understanding that Firefox is also heading in the same direction as these, i.e. towards shared control by all stakeholders.

oAlbe 8y ago

Firefox as it is now is much faster than Chrome already.

Semaphor 8y ago
Not even close. I wrote a comment [0] with my examples recently. I like FF (though besides Containers, most reasons boil down to "it's not Chrome"), but fast is a word I'd only use in comparison to IE/Edge. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18620671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18620671

pjc50 8y ago

Having different rendering engines means that at least theoretically the W3C are in control of web standards; having only one rendering engine, Chromium, means the W3C is irrelevant and the standard is "what Chomium does".

ajvs 8y ago

You'd lose out on the WebRender and all the other Quantum/Servo-related improvements, their influence over web standards, their extended extension APIs and pretty much all respect they've built up over the years.

Yoric 8y ago

I know it's a tempting thought. Mozilla has certainly evaluated (and discarded) this possibility – as you mention, it's not a good idea. I posted a few reasons for this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655028 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655028 Also > If chromium is open source other companies could share the control over code right? The sole governing body for Chromium is Google. Other companies get exactly as much control as Google decides. That's the opposite of, say, the Linux Kernel or Rust. It is my understanding that Firefox is also heading in the same direction as these, i.e. towards shared control by all stakeholders.