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Mozilla dropped Servo after realizing that it would take at least 10+ years to make it a viable replacement for Gecko. I'm sure that as soon as Servo can do eve

Mozilla dropped Servo after realizing that it would take at least 10+ years to make it a viable replacement for Gecko. I'm sure that as soon as Servo can do everything the Gecko can, the Firefox will adopt it first. The Rust is a nice language, but rebuilding huge projects from scratch is usually a commercially suicidal mission.

Gualdrapo 1y ago
> rebuilding huge projects from scratch is usually a commercially suicidal mission Yeah, CEO's absurd salaries should come first. /s (Though in all fairness I find even more upsetting that The Linux Foundation, the org that now "owns" Servo, is sill not spending a single dime on its development)
StopDisinfo910 1y ago
> Mozilla dropped Servo after realizing that it would take at least 10+ years to make it a viable replacement for Gecko Source? It’s the first time I heard that put forward and I followed Servo pretty closely. Mozilla actually dropped Servo at a time when they drastically reduced their efforts in a lot of projects which were considered non critical to their mission.
- thw_9a83c 1y ago
  > Mozilla actually dropped Servo at a time when they drastically reduced their efforts in a lot of projects which were considered non critical to their mission. Like the new browser engine is not critical to the mission of providing an independent open-source web browser? You're basically answering your own question. Servo was dropped because it was more than Mozilla could handle financially and in terms of time, and they would not be able to complete it within a reasonable timeframe. Do you have a source for any other reasoning?
  - miroljub 1y ago
    Sure, if they pursued Servo they would not have enough resources to pursue Pocket, DEI and other essential projects.
  - StopDisinfo910 1y ago
    That’s not how Mozilla defines its mission. Mozilla views its call as ensuring openness, innovation and participation on the internet. It’s pretty clear that delivering a browser has been a side goal for a long time as far as the board is concerned. I am not understanding your call for source. You are providing your speculations. I don’t need to provide an alternative narrative. I can simply give you what Mozilla said at the time as I have already done.
steveklabnik 1y ago
Servo was never intended to replace Gecko. People outside of Mozilla assumed that, but the intention was always that bits of Servo would be progressively upstreamed, which is what happened.
- thw_9a83c 1y ago
  This is nitpicking. The project was called Quantum, and the goal was to gradually replace Gecko components with Servo parts [0]. [0]: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mozilla-Quantum-Servo https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mozilla-Quantum-Servo
  - steveklabnik 1y ago
    Right, gradual replacement != "throw away Gecko and replace with Servo". They never "realized [they couldn't easily] make it a viable replacement" because that wasn't the goal.
    - hu3 1y ago
      Regardless of semantics, gradual replacement gave many of us much more hope than what actually happened, when Mozilla dismantled their Servo team.
      - steveklabnik 1y ago
        For sure, it’s sad that they did what they did.

Gualdrapo 1y ago

> rebuilding huge projects from scratch is usually a commercially suicidal mission Yeah, CEO's absurd salaries should come first. /s (Though in all fairness I find even more upsetting that The Linux Foundation, the org that now "owns" Servo, is sill not spending a single dime on its development)

StopDisinfo910 1y ago

> Mozilla dropped Servo after realizing that it would take at least 10+ years to make it a viable replacement for Gecko Source? It’s the first time I heard that put forward and I followed Servo pretty closely. Mozilla actually dropped Servo at a time when they drastically reduced their efforts in a lot of projects which were considered non critical to their mission.

thw_9a83c 1y ago
> Mozilla actually dropped Servo at a time when they drastically reduced their efforts in a lot of projects which were considered non critical to their mission. Like the new browser engine is not critical to the mission of providing an independent open-source web browser? You're basically answering your own question. Servo was dropped because it was more than Mozilla could handle financially and in terms of time, and they would not be able to complete it within a reasonable timeframe. Do you have a source for any other reasoning?
- miroljub 1y ago
  Sure, if they pursued Servo they would not have enough resources to pursue Pocket, DEI and other essential projects.
- StopDisinfo910 1y ago
  That’s not how Mozilla defines its mission. Mozilla views its call as ensuring openness, innovation and participation on the internet. It’s pretty clear that delivering a browser has been a side goal for a long time as far as the board is concerned. I am not understanding your call for source. You are providing your speculations. I don’t need to provide an alternative narrative. I can simply give you what Mozilla said at the time as I have already done.

steveklabnik 1y ago

Servo was never intended to replace Gecko. People outside of Mozilla assumed that, but the intention was always that bits of Servo would be progressively upstreamed, which is what happened.

thw_9a83c 1y ago
This is nitpicking. The project was called Quantum, and the goal was to gradually replace Gecko components with Servo parts [0]. [0]: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mozilla-Quantum-Servo https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mozilla-Quantum-Servo
- steveklabnik 1y ago
  Right, gradual replacement != "throw away Gecko and replace with Servo". They never "realized [they couldn't easily] make it a viable replacement" because that wasn't the goal.
  - hu3 1y ago
    Regardless of semantics, gradual replacement gave many of us much more hope than what actually happened, when Mozilla dismantled their Servo team.
    - steveklabnik 1y ago
      For sure, it’s sad that they did what they did.