Nick LockwoodJul 31, 2023
With Google's latest move to lock down the web (Web Environment Integrity) I'm reminded once again of all the folks who've earnestly tried to assure me over the years that the greatest threat to the open web is actually Apple not allowing 3rd party browser engines on iOS.
Show threadNick LockwoodJul 31, 2023

I genuinely believe that the fact that Webkit is the only engine Apple will allow on iOS is the only thing preventing a complete Chromium monoculture on the web right now.

User choice isn't worth shit if web devs don't support any browser except Chrome, and if 95% of people are using it then that's all they will support.

Show threadJack WellbornJul 31, 2023

@nicklockwood @Migueldeicaza Chromies call Safari “the new IE” because it was slow to adopt new standards and because Webkit is the only engine allowed on iOS. Many of their criticisms are fair, but what made IE a threat was that it had over 90% browser share and so Microsoft could do whatever it wanted regardless of the standards. This is what Google wants.

Oh yeah, and web developers of that era would only support IE and accuse Firefox for being non-standard.

Show threadNick Lockwood

@jackwellborn @Migueldeicaza yeah, I agree with that. Also Safari isn't lagging behind Chrome in functionality due to Apple not caring about web standards - it's because Google has so much clout that they have effectively redefined the standards to be "whatever Chrome is doing".

As for the last part - I *was* a web developer of that era, and that's not quite accurate. We all loved Firefox and wanted it to succeed, but we had to support IE above all else because that's what our customers used.

Jul 31, 2023 at 3:11pmIceCubesApp
Show threadJack WellbornJul 31, 2023
@nicklockwood @Migueldeicaza I too was a web developer of that era and trust me, there were web developers who primarily worked in enterprise (sent with echo) and saw supporting anything other than IE as non-standard.