4 ms·

I hope so, browser monoculture is really scary, imagine everyone with the same browser with the same security bugs and no way to use something else.

disordinary 5y ago
We lived it in the early 2000s until Firefox broke the monopoly and it was a dark time to work in web.
thrdbndndn 5y ago
Browsers, sure, but I honestly wouldn't mind to only have one major browser engine, or batch of forks stemmed from one like blink/webkit. After all, we only has one web standard. Having been using Firefox and Chrome side by side for 10+ years, I don't think the difference (or preference) between the two worth the effort putting into making two (mostly) duplicate implementations of the same thing for such complex thing. And my experience in observing the development of Firefox is that they are already too short-handed to keep up.
- DeathArrow 5y ago
  So we all should also drive the same car and eat the same food?
  - thrdbndndn 5y ago
    You can have dramatically different cars with the same engine. To most of users, even the power users, their choice of the browser isn't caused by the difference in engines. Also, I don't say "should", I say I don't mind.
- Miner49er 5y ago
  Wouldn't having one implementation controlled by Google give them the final say in the standard though, and effectively all or most of the power over the standard? Seems like a dangerous road that we're heading down.
  - thrdbndndn 5y ago
    Google is already controlling the web now, with the existence of gecko. They control it because Blink/Chromium is much more popular than other choices, not because there is only one choice. Keep in mind Blink engine is forked from WebKit (an Apple product) and Chromium is created from thin air. Yet it doesn't stop Google to have the dominant position they have today. My point is, Google controlling everything is bad, but having only one engine (be it chromium or something else) isn't what causes it.
    - kvark 5y ago
      That's not my experience in W3C. Having an implementation gives us a strong voice.
phendrenad2 5y ago
We have a Unix kernel monoculture, and things are just fine.
- prirai 5y ago
  *Linux kernel monolithism. It's not a commercial company and anyone is free to fork it for their specific architecture and usecases. You still have different types of kernels which you can use and also different linux kernel flavors which you can try.
- DeathArrow 5y ago
  And you wish for an OS monoculture, too?
- JohnFen 5y ago
  As someone who is in the process of moving all of my machines from Linux to BSD, I'm very happy that this isn't actually true.
  - effie 5y ago
    Why the move? What is it that BSD gives that Linux can't?
    - remexre 5y ago
      PF and jails come to mind, as someone who uses FreeBSD for the "important" home infra
    - HanaShiratori 5y ago
      BSD definitely makes sense in certain use cases (routers, web, mail, DB servers,...) , but moving everything indicates at some kind of rebellious act or just pure experimentalism. I have no issue with both, since I've personally done the same multiple times....
      - JohnFen 5y ago
darren_ 5y ago
This is iOS, right now, and that's a fairly substantial number of users. It's not ideal but we also aren't hearing regular reports of iOS users being compromised en masse despite their browser monoculture.

disordinary 5y ago

We lived it in the early 2000s until Firefox broke the monopoly and it was a dark time to work in web.

thrdbndndn 5y ago

Browsers, sure, but I honestly wouldn't mind to only have one major browser engine, or batch of forks stemmed from one like blink/webkit. After all, we only has one web standard. Having been using Firefox and Chrome side by side for 10+ years, I don't think the difference (or preference) between the two worth the effort putting into making two (mostly) duplicate implementations of the same thing for such complex thing. And my experience in observing the development of Firefox is that they are already too short-handed to keep up.

DeathArrow 5y ago
So we all should also drive the same car and eat the same food?
- thrdbndndn 5y ago
  You can have dramatically different cars with the same engine. To most of users, even the power users, their choice of the browser isn't caused by the difference in engines. Also, I don't say "should", I say I don't mind.
Miner49er 5y ago
Wouldn't having one implementation controlled by Google give them the final say in the standard though, and effectively all or most of the power over the standard? Seems like a dangerous road that we're heading down.
- thrdbndndn 5y ago
  Google is already controlling the web now, with the existence of gecko. They control it because Blink/Chromium is much more popular than other choices, not because there is only one choice. Keep in mind Blink engine is forked from WebKit (an Apple product) and Chromium is created from thin air. Yet it doesn't stop Google to have the dominant position they have today. My point is, Google controlling everything is bad, but having only one engine (be it chromium or something else) isn't what causes it.
  - kvark 5y ago
    That's not my experience in W3C. Having an implementation gives us a strong voice.

phendrenad2 5y ago

We have a Unix kernel monoculture, and things are just fine.

prirai 5y ago
*Linux kernel monolithism. It's not a commercial company and anyone is free to fork it for their specific architecture and usecases. You still have different types of kernels which you can use and also different linux kernel flavors which you can try.
DeathArrow 5y ago
And you wish for an OS monoculture, too?
JohnFen 5y ago
As someone who is in the process of moving all of my machines from Linux to BSD, I'm very happy that this isn't actually true.
- effie 5y ago
  Why the move? What is it that BSD gives that Linux can't?
  - remexre 5y ago
    PF and jails come to mind, as someone who uses FreeBSD for the "important" home infra
  - HanaShiratori 5y ago
    BSD definitely makes sense in certain use cases (routers, web, mail, DB servers,...) , but moving everything indicates at some kind of rebellious act or just pure experimentalism. I have no issue with both, since I've personally done the same multiple times....
    - JohnFen 5y ago

darren_ 5y ago

This is iOS, right now, and that's a fairly substantial number of users. It's not ideal but we also aren't hearing regular reports of iOS users being compromised en masse despite their browser monoculture.