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This comment reads like you've never lived through a browser monopoly. Sure it's great now, but do you think Google will work as hard and dedicate as much budge

This comment reads like you've never lived through a browser monopoly. Sure it's great now, but do you think Google will work as hard and dedicate as much budget if there are two or even worse - just one - viable browser?

technobabbler 5y ago
Frankly I do miss the IE6 days, when everything just mostly worked. NetCaptor, an IE-based browser using Trident to render pages, had its own ad blocker, tabbed browsing, quicksearch, etc. -- most of the best features of Chrome -- without all the compatibility issues of the browser wars. Disabling ActiveX and Java (not Javascript) and having Just One Browser made for a remarkably clean and simple experience, the likes of which we haven't seen since. For all the modern innovations, I don't think the fundamental premise of the web has changed all that much -- hyperlinks, text, and media -- but the user and developer experience has gotten a lot, lot worse over time as more and more money competed for eyeballs. Edit: As for "work as hard and dedicate as much budget"... I hope they don't! A circa-2000s feature freeze on web browsers would be wonderful. Stop "innovating", i.e., creating trash features that only help huge enterprises selling trash advertising. The web doesn't need to be this complex; we're feature-rich and content-poor as it is. What started as a network for academics and info sharing ended up being a marketer's wet dream and a nightmare for everyone else.
criddell 5y ago
Sometimes I wish the pace of change would drop way, way back for a few years. If the main browser developers were to all agree to an X year ceasefire where no new features are introduced - only bug fixes and standards clarifications are allowed - I don't necessarily think it would be all that bad for users or developers.
selfhoster11 5y ago
I lived through the tail-end of the Internet Explorer monopoly, and tried to push Firefox with those willing to try it. I don't want an IE 2021 in the form of Chrome with a broken web for other clients.
- technobabbler 5y ago
  We wouldn't have that problem if Gecko and Webkit went away and everything was Blink.
  - mmastrac 5y ago
    If that happened five years ago, everything would be Amp and PNaCl. The diverse ecosystem keeps the Chrome engineers in check.
    - pictur 5y ago
      I totally agree. Chrome is busy fucking most web standard
    - technobabbler 5y ago
      With < 5% marketshare? It was probably more the publisher (news companies) and marketplace revolts (Facebook) that checked Google, not Mozilla.

technobabbler 5y ago

Frankly I do miss the IE6 days, when everything just mostly worked. NetCaptor, an IE-based browser using Trident to render pages, had its own ad blocker, tabbed browsing, quicksearch, etc. -- most of the best features of Chrome -- without all the compatibility issues of the browser wars. Disabling ActiveX and Java (not Javascript) and having Just One Browser made for a remarkably clean and simple experience, the likes of which we haven't seen since. For all the modern innovations, I don't think the fundamental premise of the web has changed all that much -- hyperlinks, text, and media -- but the user and developer experience has gotten a lot, lot worse over time as more and more money competed for eyeballs. Edit: As for "work as hard and dedicate as much budget"... I hope they don't! A circa-2000s feature freeze on web browsers would be wonderful. Stop "innovating", i.e., creating trash features that only help huge enterprises selling trash advertising. The web doesn't need to be this complex; we're feature-rich and content-poor as it is. What started as a network for academics and info sharing ended up being a marketer's wet dream and a nightmare for everyone else.

criddell 5y ago

Sometimes I wish the pace of change would drop way, way back for a few years. If the main browser developers were to all agree to an X year ceasefire where no new features are introduced - only bug fixes and standards clarifications are allowed - I don't necessarily think it would be all that bad for users or developers.

selfhoster11 5y ago

I lived through the tail-end of the Internet Explorer monopoly, and tried to push Firefox with those willing to try it. I don't want an IE 2021 in the form of Chrome with a broken web for other clients.

technobabbler 5y ago
We wouldn't have that problem if Gecko and Webkit went away and everything was Blink.
- mmastrac 5y ago
  If that happened five years ago, everything would be Amp and PNaCl. The diverse ecosystem keeps the Chrome engineers in check.
  - pictur 5y ago
    I totally agree. Chrome is busy fucking most web standard
  - technobabbler 5y ago
    With < 5% marketshare? It was probably more the publisher (news companies) and marketplace revolts (Facebook) that checked Google, not Mozilla.