> > The window to the internet > This exact part of your comment is why big companies are fighting so hard to own and gatekeep web browsers. Yes. And it goes

> > The window to the internet > This exact part of your comment is why big companies are fighting so hard to own and gatekeep web browsers. Yes. And it goes even further, it's also why they're working hard to destroy the WWW, and have everybody silo-d into their app. It's why on most social/media networks you can't really link to anything. Why they're dressing down the address bar so that people don't see (and learn about!) URLs any more. Or learn about their use, that they are one of the fundamental building blocks of what was the WWW. Although there's more, they already burned some parts of the woods before attacking the WWW. Do you remember there was a time when almost all of the popular instant messaging protocols were supported in ONE (free, non-tracking, non-ad infested) app (and there was even a choice of such apps: Pidgin, Trillian, Miranda ..). Some of them could even talk to each other. It's crazy to imagine, but ultimately even more crazy is that we don't have this any more!! They won the instant messaging war, it was pretty silent in fact. Just wasn't as ingrained as the WWW used to be. They had to wean the users off slowly, which is exactly what they're doing right now. The time is coming but not yet. If they could, they would completely do away with the browser and just have their own apps. All the browser represents to them is a liability; an opportunity to click away and leave their platform for another.