Comment by cbondurant

Comment by cbondurant 3 hours ago

6 replies

To me blink as a render engine is too closely coupled to Google. Even though technically chromium is disconnected and open source, the amount of leverage Google has is too high.

I dread the possibility that gecko and webkit browsers truly die out, and the single biggest name in web advertising has unilateral sway over the direction of web standards.

A good example of this is that through the exclusive leverage of Google, all blink based browsers are phasing out support for Manifest V2. A widely unpopular, forcing change. If I'm using a blink based browser I become vulnerable to any other profit motivated changes like that one.

Mozilla might be trying their hardest to do the same with this AI shlock, but if I have to choose between the trillion dollar market cap dictator of the internet and the little kid playing pretend evil billionaire in their sandbox? Well, Mozilla is definitely the less threatening of the two in that regard.

charcircuit 2 hours ago

Participarion in web standards includes multiple different browsers even if they use the same browser engine. If we had only blink based browsers, it wouldn't be just Google at the table.

>phasing out support for Manifest V2. A widely unpopular, forcing change.

It was unpopular among a niche minority. Most of which didn't undersrand what actually changed with MV3, nor did most people understand the evolution of MV3 over time.

  • rjdj377dhabsn 13 minutes ago

    I don't know the details, but breaking uBO was the obvious negative impact for users.

    Is there some additional information that you think would change the opinion of the users who want strong adblocking capabilities?

bigyabai 2 hours ago

> If I'm using a blink based browser I become vulnerable to any other profit motivated changes like that one.

Only if your OEM prevents you from installing competing browser engines. For most real computers it's not a concern.

  • 1718627440 2 hours ago

    Yeah, what IS preventing you is the lack of competing browsers.

    • charcircuit 2 hours ago

      But notably not lack of competing browser engines as the power of these decisions come from the product and not the open source libraries the product uses.

  • 7bit 2 hours ago

    Oof, maybe read his comment again...