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FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

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Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#161
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replacing Microsoft Overlord with Google Overlord does not seem like much of a win

This might come as a surprise but not everyone sees the world from a "freedom" perspective. In terms of practical/day to day experience we won something that works over something that didn't.

If you don't look at the world from that freedom perspective, you are simply being shortsighted.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#162
post #49

It may seem an advantage to use the latest cutting edge features of a single platform, instead of using well established standards which are compatible with every browser. Sure, you are going to leave out some small minority of users, but you gain access to many new features. However, you are helping push the web become an increasingly centralized place, controlled by just a few entities, with interests which are ver…

> you are helping push the web become an increasingly centralized place Does it? Open source standardization is a good thing. Still not sure why html/css/js engine should be the exception. No one is calling for competition for QR code, torrent protocol, or the other billion of very dominant open source projects.

HTML, CSS, JS, QR codes, and Bittorrent are data formats or protocols, not implementations.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#163
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't firefox invoke the system dll or libraries for H.264 encode/decode? Like many video players do. Why must every browser ship its own codec or even Unicode collection is beyond me.

Because of a long tradition of the system libraries being fucked. All this stuff started in the days of Windows XP, which shipped with such a meagre selection of codecs you couldn't even play DVDs. And the codecs you could download? Either they cost money (i.e. most users wouldn't have them), or they were dodging license costs by some questionable means, or they had bigger aspirations than just providing a mere codec…

Microsoft still doesn't include basic codecs like H.264 in some Windows editions ("N" and "KN" for some regions in the EU and Korea), but those users can download Microsoft's Windows Media Feature Pack to get the codecs:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problem...

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#164
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What necessary E2E API does Chrome provide?

WebRTC Insertable Streams: https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/6321945865879552

The state of it in Firefox:

"Opened Apr 2020"

https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/330

Then in October added "Insertable streams is worth prototyping"

Also: "I will remind people that this isn't the place for advocating for what gets implemented in Firefox. This is something that the media team needs to work out."

then "closed 26 Oct 2020"

But, hey, it's June 2021, you just got a new UI redesign which nobody wanted (I guess, except the managers who invented it), and which uses up more vertical space. (Hint: about:config browser.proton.enabled false helps at the moment).

Even the iOS version of Firefox got an UI redesign. One has to care for the priorities! The color of the shed is always the biggest impact a manager can bring!

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#165
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That mirrors my experience. It's not POs or PMs that hear about some new niche browser feature only supported by Chrome. It's devs that want to play with the latest toys and kind of look at you weird if you use Safari. There's an annoying assumption from other devs that I must be using Safari out of ignorance. They quickly get over it, but it's a problematic first impression thing when working with new teams.

Oh man, I split my time between Safari and Firefox. I must be some kind of sicko.

So do I.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#166
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Apple has many developers on this team, and Firefox is an open source project. If we could create an feeling that companies that claim to be developer friendly make sure that FF is also compatible, it would be a huge win for all involved.

While at first glance it would be strange to expect Apple to make these changes; I don't feel its unreasonable from any perspective. Apple should hold a long-term interest in keeping the web diverse; Safari will never reasonably hold a majority/plurality marketshare, so their second highest priority from a revenue/ux perspective should be "sticking to the standards" and helping toward ensuring web developers don't ta…

When it was reasonable for Apple to do so, Apple distributed Safari for Windows. I don't remember now anymore exactly, it could have been even before Chrome on Windows existed? "Apple's Steve Jobs first announced Windows PC support in Safari 3.0 at Macworld Expo in 2007."

"Google Chrome first release: 2008-09-02." "We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others" (1)

If there's ever a reason for Apple to be more involved in a Windows browser, that's still an option.

But implementing some functionality in a third browser on Windows... why should they? The two which already have the feature are already by the competing companies.

1) https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browse...

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#167
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Apple has many developers on this team, and Firefox is an open source project. If we could create an feeling that companies that claim to be developer friendly make sure that FF is also compatible, it would be a huge win for all involved.

Firefox is an open source project, but pushing large changes upstream is difficult (and this is true of pretty much any project). Even if Apple had the patches, Mozilla might not take them.

Maybe they could... I dunno... work with Mozilla and see if they were interested in taking the changes?

It's not like they have to build this whole thing out, then hope and pray that Mozilla accepts the changes.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This idea that only Chrome matters is absolutely coming from the bottom up and when you point out something broken in Safari the first response from them is "Does it work in Chrome?" before they even look at it because they themselves don't even test in a second browser. I would have thought at least iOS Safari would be a major consideration for anyone due to the ubiquity of iOS devices.

Ubiquity of iOS devices? They are only about 15% of smartphones.

But like 80% of the executives making decisions.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#169
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WebRTC Insertable Streams: https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/6321945865879552

The state of it in Firefox: "Opened Apr 2020" https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/330 Then in October added "Insertable streams is worth prototyping " Also: "I will remind people that this isn't the place for advocating for what gets implemented in Firefox. This is something that the media team needs to work out." then "closed 26 Oct 2020" But, hey, it's June 2021, you just got a new UI redesign whi…

Do you really think the people who implemented UI changes are the same people who could implement an end-to-end encryption API?

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#170
post #71
post #49

It may seem an advantage to use the latest cutting edge features of a single platform, instead of using well established standards which are compatible with every browser. Sure, you are going to leave out some small minority of users, but you gain access to many new features. However, you are helping push the web become an increasingly centralized place, controlled by just a few entities, with interests which are ver…

To the vast majority of the people that use this on the web, they will do care about your story. I don’t mean that as an insult; I’m happy there are folks like you with passion in this space. If you’re old enough, you still wake up in the middle of the night sweating about IE 6 or 7 bugs that HAD to be solved with brute force even though the feature worked just fine in Firefox and Chrome. After years of struggle, mos…

IE also worked great if you "took the win" and wrote exclusively for IE and not for the standard.
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