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What is interesting is that the author's Chrome anecdote is largely a technical solution. People did more on the web. Processors were more powerful. Enabling mu
by rcme 3y ago
What is interesting is that the author's Chrome anecdote is largely a technical solution. People did more on the web. Processors were more powerful. Enabling multi-process browsing was a big step forward. When he talks about his future plans, his discussion seems product-oriented. E.g.
> I imagine a browser that is more than just a browser — that makes it easier for me to create on the web, and easier for me to discover what others have created. I dream of the browser fueling a virtuous cycle between creator and consumer, and ultimately growing the web ecosystem.
As the author himself mentions, browsers are a mature tech. I'm not going to say they're done evolving, but, as a product, they are relatively mature. I think it's going to be hard to innovate here without some type of companion technological breakthrough that will drive new innovations.
- WorldMaker 3y agoI was hoping in the article there would be a larger rebuttal to or at least reflection on the Blink/V8 monoculture the web is reducing to. I wasn't entirely surprised given this was from the substack of The Browser Company who are just yet another company taking Blink/V8 and rearranging the deck chairs of the browser's, er, chrome (intentionally little 'c', pun intended). But I still would have liked to see some reflection on that, at least. There's definitely a perspective that browsers can seem like mature tech if there's no clear innovation at the lowest parts of the stack, but that could just be "blinders" because there is no competition to force the innovation. A monoculture doesn't seem great for telling us if the ecosystem is healthy and mature or if it is just locked into a single team's perspective that is perhaps unchallenged.