4 ms·

Blink is better than Gecko. Why would someone who intends to create a new browser do so using Gecko?

by vadfa 5y ago

hnlmorg 5y ago
For literally the reasons we're already discussing: to offer an alternative to Chrome. If every browser is based on Chromium then you're not really offering an alternative to Google Chrome because Google still own the supply chain. Not only in terms of your new browser's rendering engine but also in terms of website owners being vindicated in targeting Chrome. The only way to offer a legitimate counterargument to Chrome is not to use Blink.
- zarzavat 5y ago
  I think that's backwards. Gecko requires constant and expensive work to keep up with Blink. And it has been falling behind. Whereas Blink gets that work for free from Google. If you want to offer a legitimate counter argument to Chrome by using Gecko then you have to find some way to bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars of necessary funding to bring Gecko up to Blink's quality. If you want to create a counter argument to Chrome using Blink, then you have everything you need already.
  - eitland 5y ago
    > Whereas Blink gets that work for free from Google. For now. My bet is they are already planning how to boil the frog.
  - hnlmorg 5y ago
    I do appreciate the difficulty of maintaining a rendering engine (I wrote my own browser in the late 90s) but let's not over dramatise Gecko's position, I've been using Firefox as my primary browser for years and almost never find a website that couldn't work in it (the only instances when it doesn't work is when someone throws up a demo of some unstandardised and bleeding edge Chrome API). Plus lets not forget that Mozilla are still actively working on Gecko so it's not like all responsibility falls on us tomorrow. The bigger issue for me isn't the maintenance of Gecko; I just can't see how extending Blinks market share really hurts Google in any way. Ultimately Blink-based browsers are still tied into Google's supply chain so even if you did displace Chrome with a Blink-based competitor, Google still win.
  - ohgodplsno 5y ago
    "quality" unilaterally implementing unstable APIs and telling people on web.dev that "it's safe you can use it it's totally production ready" isn't exactly quality, but you do you.

Blink is better than Gecko. Why would someone who intends to create a new browser do so using Gecko?

by vadfa 5y ago

Blink is better than Gecko. Why would someone who intends to create a new browser do so using Gecko?

For literally the reasons we're already discussing: to offer an alternative to Chrome. If every browser is based on Chromium then you're not really offering an alternative to Google Chrome because Google still own the supply chain. Not only in terms of your new browser's rendering engine but also in terms of website owners being vindicated in targeting Chrome. The only way to offer a legitimate counterargument to Chrome is not to use Blink.

zarzavat 5y ago
I think that's backwards. Gecko requires constant and expensive work to keep up with Blink. And it has been falling behind. Whereas Blink gets that work for free from Google. If you want to offer a legitimate counter argument to Chrome by using Gecko then you have to find some way to bring in the hundreds of millions of dollars of necessary funding to bring Gecko up to Blink's quality. If you want to create a counter argument to Chrome using Blink, then you have everything you need already.
- eitland 5y ago
  > Whereas Blink gets that work for free from Google. For now. My bet is they are already planning how to boil the frog.
- hnlmorg 5y ago
  I do appreciate the difficulty of maintaining a rendering engine (I wrote my own browser in the late 90s) but let's not over dramatise Gecko's position, I've been using Firefox as my primary browser for years and almost never find a website that couldn't work in it (the only instances when it doesn't work is when someone throws up a demo of some unstandardised and bleeding edge Chrome API). Plus lets not forget that Mozilla are still actively working on Gecko so it's not like all responsibility falls on us tomorrow. The bigger issue for me isn't the maintenance of Gecko; I just can't see how extending Blinks market share really hurts Google in any way. Ultimately Blink-based browsers are still tied into Google's supply chain so even if you did displace Chrome with a Blink-based competitor, Google still win.
- ohgodplsno 5y ago
  "quality" unilaterally implementing unstable APIs and telling people on web.dev that "it's safe you can use it it's totally production ready" isn't exactly quality, but you do you.