8 ms·

Microsoft isn't a fair comparison. They have other, multi-billion dollar cash cows to rely on. I don't think they're unfounded. Nearly every developer I know u

by jholly 12y ago

Microsoft isn't a fair comparison. They have other, multi-billion dollar cash cows to rely on. I don't think they're unfounded. Nearly every developer I know uses chrome, and chrome dev tools. This wasn't always the case. Market share can be a lagging indicator, i think it's a little short sighted to suggest they're okay. They're not! Forking isn't a sin. Diversity often a result of forking. Take a look at this graphic[1]. There's a good chance the browser you're currently using is a result of a fork. Mozilla has to really examine what they stand for. The open web doesn't depend on implementation internals. Just specs, tests, and sensible governing body, and a set of willing participants that don't have unreasonable misaligned interests. They can still promote an open. Perhaps even do a better job of it with the extra resources. [1] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Timeline_of_web_browsers.svg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Timeline_...

pcwalton 12y ago
> Forking isn't a sin. Diversity often a result of forking. Take a look at this graphic[1]. There's a good chance the browser you're currently using is a result of a fork. Sorry, I think there's absolutely no way to spin the idea that abandoning Gecko for Blink would increase diversity. It's self-evidently false. Forks lead to more rendering engine diversity than straight-up reskins, I suppose, but much less diversity than actual from-scratch engines. (Incidentally, since Blink is explicitly not designed to be embeddable, "adopting Blink" essentially means becoming a Chrome skin.)
JohnTHaller 12y ago
Firefox has equal share with Chrome and most of the techies I know still use Firefox. Not having every private test URL of stuff you're working on sent to Google is reason enough. I do have several dev friends that use Chrome. They're usually mobile devs unconcerned with privacy (they have everything in Google).
- camus2 12y ago
  > Firefox has equal share with Chrome and most of the >techies >I know still use Firefox. > Not having every private test URL of stuff >you're working on sent to Google is reason enough. And where does Mozilla money come from ? tell me.
  - JohnTHaller 12y ago
    Firefox has a separate search box from the URL box for a reason. Every keystroke of the search box is sent to Google so the auto-complete results come up. Chrome has a single box for both URLs and search, so every character of every URL you type is sent to Google. That's the difference.
- throwawaay 12y ago
  Put up or shut up: Please provide evidence that Chrome sends private URLs to Google.
  - Curmudgel 12y ago
    If you have omnibox predictions turned on, every keystroke is logged. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/180655?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/180655?hl=en

by jholly 12y ago

pcwalton 12y ago

> Forking isn't a sin. Diversity often a result of forking. Take a look at this graphic[1]. There's a good chance the browser you're currently using is a result of a fork. Sorry, I think there's absolutely no way to spin the idea that abandoning Gecko for Blink would increase diversity. It's self-evidently false. Forks lead to more rendering engine diversity than straight-up reskins, I suppose, but much less diversity than actual from-scratch engines. (Incidentally, since Blink is explicitly not designed to be embeddable, "adopting Blink" essentially means becoming a Chrome skin.)

JohnTHaller 12y ago

Firefox has equal share with Chrome and most of the techies I know still use Firefox. Not having every private test URL of stuff you're working on sent to Google is reason enough. I do have several dev friends that use Chrome. They're usually mobile devs unconcerned with privacy (they have everything in Google).

camus2 12y ago
> Firefox has equal share with Chrome and most of the >techies >I know still use Firefox. > Not having every private test URL of stuff >you're working on sent to Google is reason enough. And where does Mozilla money come from ? tell me.
- JohnTHaller 12y ago
  Firefox has a separate search box from the URL box for a reason. Every keystroke of the search box is sent to Google so the auto-complete results come up. Chrome has a single box for both URLs and search, so every character of every URL you type is sent to Google. That's the difference.
throwawaay 12y ago
Put up or shut up: Please provide evidence that Chrome sends private URLs to Google.
- Curmudgel 12y ago
  If you have omnibox predictions turned on, every keystroke is logged. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/180655?hl=en https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/180655?hl=en