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This is what I’m worried about as well. Remember those “Works best in Internet Explorer” badges and having to close Netscape and open IE just to have sites func

This is what I’m worried about as well. Remember those “Works best in Internet Explorer” badges and having to close Netscape and open IE just to have sites function? That experience is about to have a modern incarnation. It’s bad news for Firefox, too. With Firefox/Gecko marketshare barely hanging on at 3%, WebKit/Safari is the last bastion against a near-Chromium/Blink monopoly at 19%. If devs don’t have to care to test against Safari they definitely aren’t going to bother testing against Firefox. At this point I think it may be prudent to push for Chromium/Blink to be spun out of Google into a non-profit organization. Its overwhelming majority marketshare makes it too prone to abuse by its owning corporation.

jb1991 5y ago
> That experience is about to have a modern incarnation. You speak like it's coming, but it's already been this way for years. I worked at a company with an SPA that officially only supported Chrome, and I've since used services by other companies that did not work in Safari or FF only be told by their tech support that I must use Chrome.
- ocdtrekkie 5y ago
  Line of business apps are definitely already this way, it's why I know the apocalypse is coming for the web when this goes through. My favorite was being told we had to use Chrome on iOS for a site to work... even though obviously it's still just Webkit.
  - mmis1000 5y ago
    Because there are actually bugs in safari's shell (ui) instead of the browser part(engine). Safari on ios do have more bug than chrome on ios. Because not all safari bugs are browser engine bugs.
Apocryphon 5y ago
If other browser engines can be allowed, then Mozilla can port Gecko to iOS. Firefox Browser iOS is currently using WebKit.
- olliej 5y ago
  You're missing the point: for better or worse, "Safari only" on iOS is probably the only thing causing any significant friction for "this site only works in chrome". Sites already routinely require chrome on desktop. Remove Safari on iOS and ask yourself: will more sites support non-chrome browsers, or will fewer?
- kitsunesoba 5y ago
  It’ll be nice to have real Gecko on iOS, but it’s moot because it won’t be what’s taking marketshare from Safari/WebKit. It’ll be something Chromium/Blink based instead, most likely Chrome. Even now on Android Chrome is by far the dominant browser despite lacking extension capabilities (and thus, adblocking capabilities) entirely. Firefox for Android has the massive technical advantage of being able to run uBlock Origin but it doesn’t make much of a difference. Users will go where developers and heavyhanded marketing (as Google has been notorious for with Chrome) push them.

jb1991 5y ago

> That experience is about to have a modern incarnation. You speak like it's coming, but it's already been this way for years. I worked at a company with an SPA that officially only supported Chrome, and I've since used services by other companies that did not work in Safari or FF only be told by their tech support that I must use Chrome.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago
Line of business apps are definitely already this way, it's why I know the apocalypse is coming for the web when this goes through. My favorite was being told we had to use Chrome on iOS for a site to work... even though obviously it's still just Webkit.
- mmis1000 5y ago
  Because there are actually bugs in safari's shell (ui) instead of the browser part(engine). Safari on ios do have more bug than chrome on ios. Because not all safari bugs are browser engine bugs.

Apocryphon 5y ago

If other browser engines can be allowed, then Mozilla can port Gecko to iOS. Firefox Browser iOS is currently using WebKit.

olliej 5y ago
You're missing the point: for better or worse, "Safari only" on iOS is probably the only thing causing any significant friction for "this site only works in chrome". Sites already routinely require chrome on desktop. Remove Safari on iOS and ask yourself: will more sites support non-chrome browsers, or will fewer?
kitsunesoba 5y ago
It’ll be nice to have real Gecko on iOS, but it’s moot because it won’t be what’s taking marketshare from Safari/WebKit. It’ll be something Chromium/Blink based instead, most likely Chrome. Even now on Android Chrome is by far the dominant browser despite lacking extension capabilities (and thus, adblocking capabilities) entirely. Firefox for Android has the massive technical advantage of being able to run uBlock Origin but it doesn’t make much of a difference. Users will go where developers and heavyhanded marketing (as Google has been notorious for with Chrome) push them.