3 ms·

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossi

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossible?

err4nt 7y ago
These technologies are very deep, and the pool of developers with the skill, time, desire, and understanding to hack on these things is a very shallow pool to pull from. It seems like a lot of companies working on browsers are under-staffed so we seem to be experiencing more cross-company teamwork and collaboration than ever before - which is _great_ for standards and pushing us forward at a faster pace than before!
- rightbyte 7y ago
  I don't want more internet standards or faster pace.
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  I would have thought most developers would absolutely jump at the chance to work on something as core as a browser! Having Chrome or Safari on your resume seems like it'd be golden.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
foepys 7y ago
I think the product management was bad. The browser was always full of quirks on how to use it and configuring felt bad. It lacked features and the feature that were there were always bad. They also never were innovating except for some DRM stuff. IT savvy people just installed all their friend and family Chrome because they were also using it and it works.
xenocratus 7y ago
https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.... This is why
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
scarface74 7y ago
Whether they could or not is not as important question of whether they should. What would Microsoft gain by “winning” the browser engine war or even taking a significant share? Where is the profit motive? The reason for IE original was that MS was afraid of the browser becoming the platform instead of Windows. That ship has sailed. Microsoft doesn’t really care about Windows revenue as much as Azure and Office 365. Google cares because of advertising and Apple really could care less about browser marketshare. It just doesn’t want to be beholden to anyone else.

Why is it so hard for a mammoth company like MS to maintain their own browser?! Is this because gaining market share with an alternate browser is simply impossible?

err4nt 7y ago

These technologies are very deep, and the pool of developers with the skill, time, desire, and understanding to hack on these things is a very shallow pool to pull from. It seems like a lot of companies working on browsers are under-staffed so we seem to be experiencing more cross-company teamwork and collaboration than ever before - which is _great_ for standards and pushing us forward at a faster pace than before!

rightbyte 7y ago
I don't want more internet standards or faster pace.
chrisseaton 7y ago
I would have thought most developers would absolutely jump at the chance to work on something as core as a browser! Having Chrome or Safari on your resume seems like it'd be golden.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

foepys 7y ago

I think the product management was bad. The browser was always full of quirks on how to use it and configuring felt bad. It lacked features and the feature that were there were always bad. They also never were innovating except for some DRM stuff. IT savvy people just installed all their friend and family Chrome because they were also using it and it works.

xenocratus 7y ago

https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.... This is why

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

scarface74 7y ago

Whether they could or not is not as important question of whether they should. What would Microsoft gain by “winning” the browser engine war or even taking a significant share? Where is the profit motive? The reason for IE original was that MS was afraid of the browser becoming the platform instead of Windows. That ship has sailed. Microsoft doesn’t really care about Windows revenue as much as Azure and Office 365. Google cares because of advertising and Apple really could care less about browser marketshare. It just doesn’t want to be beholden to anyone else.