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I don't understand why Microsoft gets such a hard time over this when in IOS you can't even install another browser engine aside from Safari. If you do install

I don't understand why Microsoft gets such a hard time over this when in IOS you can't even install another browser engine aside from Safari. If you do install Firefox on IOS it's just a wrapper for the Safari engine with all the same limitations, you can't install adblock or other extensions. That seems far more anti-competitive that what MS is doing here and it's been happening as long as IOS has existed.

vetinari 6y ago
Apple has some 25% market share on mobile devices . Microsoft has 80% on desktop; they had some 98% in '90s. That's the crucial difference. You can easily get native firefox on mobile if you want (even if it means giving up iOS). It was much more difficult for desktop users to give up Windows in 1998.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  And when given the option, the wonderful Desktop Linux never goes beyond 1%, as per Valve stats, but everyone will migrate en mass just about now (since XP apparently).
  - vetinari 6y ago
    That's entirely different issue, that doesn't have technical roots. The world didn't migrate en-masse to Windows Phone either, despite it being quite nice mobile OS at the time.
    - pjmlp 6y ago
      Sure it has, a fragmentation and continuous forking of major desktop stacks that don't allow ISVs to thrust the platform. WP also doing slowly well, the whole technical stack was rebooted multiple times, and thus it lost the developer love that got fed up with so many reboots. Also the reason why Win32 and WinRT are now being merged via Project Reunion, confirming the trend that started with MSIX and XAML Islands introduction.
      - vetinari 6y ago
        > Sure it has, a fragmentation and continuous forking of major desktop stacks that don't allow ISVs to thrust the platform. If you are halfway competent ISV, you don't have a problem. Sure, there is no polished SDK that contains the entire world, but everything needed is available in respective repos. You also do not need to support every release of Kali and Slackware. If you focus on the most used distribution(s), you won't have a problem with support. Even Microsoft can do it today. > Also the reason why Win32 and WinRT are now being merged via Project Reunion, confirming the trend that started with MSIX and XAML Islands introduction. Causing collective yawn. But don't worry, other desktops have exactly the same problem, because again, it is not a tech problem.
        pjmlp 6y ago
        Apparently being a halfway competent ISV is a synonym with shipping Electron apps, yeah the future of Desktop Linux is great.

vetinari 6y ago

Apple has some 25% market share on mobile devices . Microsoft has 80% on desktop; they had some 98% in '90s. That's the crucial difference. You can easily get native firefox on mobile if you want (even if it means giving up iOS). It was much more difficult for desktop users to give up Windows in 1998.

pjmlp 6y ago
And when given the option, the wonderful Desktop Linux never goes beyond 1%, as per Valve stats, but everyone will migrate en mass just about now (since XP apparently).
- vetinari 6y ago
  That's entirely different issue, that doesn't have technical roots. The world didn't migrate en-masse to Windows Phone either, despite it being quite nice mobile OS at the time.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    Sure it has, a fragmentation and continuous forking of major desktop stacks that don't allow ISVs to thrust the platform. WP also doing slowly well, the whole technical stack was rebooted multiple times, and thus it lost the developer love that got fed up with so many reboots. Also the reason why Win32 and WinRT are now being merged via Project Reunion, confirming the trend that started with MSIX and XAML Islands introduction.
    - vetinari 6y ago
      > Sure it has, a fragmentation and continuous forking of major desktop stacks that don't allow ISVs to thrust the platform. If you are halfway competent ISV, you don't have a problem. Sure, there is no polished SDK that contains the entire world, but everything needed is available in respective repos. You also do not need to support every release of Kali and Slackware. If you focus on the most used distribution(s), you won't have a problem with support. Even Microsoft can do it today. > Also the reason why Win32 and WinRT are now being merged via Project Reunion, confirming the trend that started with MSIX and XAML Islands introduction. Causing collective yawn. But don't worry, other desktops have exactly the same problem, because again, it is not a tech problem.
      - pjmlp 6y ago
        Apparently being a halfway competent ISV is a synonym with shipping Electron apps, yeah the future of Desktop Linux is great.