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Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

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Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#181

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

JohnBooty wrote: post #179
jccalhoun wrote: post #23

As a firefox fax, I hope this isn't true. The dominance of chrome isn't good for anyone. This will lead to (even more) sites not bothering to be made compatible with Firefox. We are headed back to the "designed for IE" days.

Yeah, this is just depressing and honestly a little baffling. Seems contrary to Microsoft's interests - why let Google control this aspect of the Web? (Obviously, MS will maintain their own fork and can permanently fork away whenever they want/need to, I guess, so it's not like they've locked themselves in forever, but still) I actually wasn't aware of the problems with Edge. This is the first I've heard of them... I…

>I actually wasn't aware of the problems with Edge. This is the first I've heard of them...

Same, but neither of us actually use Edge. Just like nearly everyone reading this comment.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#182

Post by baroffoos »

ivankolev wrote: post #73
chipperyman573 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has (luckily) only had to support Firefox/Edge/Chrome, can you go into why IE11 is so bad? In the very small amount of testing I've done, everything seems to render just fine (especially compared to IE6/7/8)

For one it does not support css grid, which is really the best way to do layout atm.

It also doesn't support flexbox very well. Had lots of issues with that a year ago.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#183

Post by TanakaTarou »

What other options do they have? Even on HN you hear "I use Egde to download Chrome". Many of you here don't test your own work in Edge. At the same time Microsoft is getting the heat that Windows 10 is unstable and the last major update shows that it is. Very urgently, I imagine, Microsoft is trying to change the perception of Windows 10 by doing everything they can to make it more stable. Changing the browser engine is a big step in that direction. It is a step they have to do because.. and now comes the down votes... YOU don't test your work in Egde and because YOU tell all friends and family to use Chrome instead of edge. I bet many of you even helps friends and family in downloading it. So stop complaining about monoculture. Many of you helped create it.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#184

Post by Osiris »

kibwen wrote: post #115
Osiris wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if that engine is open source, isn't that a good thing? There's a single standard but anyone can contribute patches for increased performance, new features, etc?

All commits to the Chrome codebase are gated through Google, an ad company whose driving motivation is in delivering value to shareholders, not to improving the web. Once the web becomes a Google monoculture, I won't be holding my breath to see any features land on the web that could threaten Google's bottom line.

I know what Google is.

Aren't changes to many open source projects gated, like the Linux kernel?

On a serious note, doesn't the license allow forks? Couldn't a large company just fork it and make changes without Google's approval?

Once it becomes "de facto", couldn't one argue to setup a foundation outside of Google's control as is done in many other open source projects?

I get that people hate Google but why bash on the project being open source; is it not open "enough"?

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#185

Post by BuckRogers »

This is the wrong strategy for adoption. Edge adoption will skyrocket if they give Win10S / a UWP-only version of Windows away for free. Edge locked and minimal ad support with no data collection business model. Or, give the user the choice between the two SaaS support models that they prefer, one of those combined with being funneled to MS services (Bing etc) should make it sustainable. This will result in being good for web standards, empowering MS, Google, Apple and Mozilla independently.

To increase Electron app performance on Windows, it's a good way to go about it. But I have to wonder if in time Electron will be around when wasm will be a better universal app platform to build around. Little to no performance issues to resolve there.

So some good and some bad. But I can't say that I think it makes as much sense as working hard on pushing wasm and releasing UWP-locked Win10 for any vendor to install or user to download.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#186

Post by notatoad »

sureaboutthis wrote: post #100

Someone needs to note that Chromium is a browser and the rendering engine is called Blink. You can't build a different browser and rename it based on Chromium but you can use Blink as your rendering engine. The article says "...building a new web browser powered by Chromium, a rendering engine...".

You absolutely can build a new browser based on chromium. That's what opera is. It shares a lot more than just the blink code.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#187

Post by giancarlostoro »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #136
cjbprime wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly having trouble making a coherent strategy out of those words, despite knowing what all of them mean. Seems like at the least it is written with way more confidence than could possibly be appropriate.

I think it's referring to Microsoft's own Electron-powered apps, like VSCode. There have been rumblings in the past about MS wanting to fork Electron and replace Chromium with EdgeHTML in their fork, but it sounds like the strategy has changed to forking Chromium and using that in their future Electron fork instead. I have no idea if this correctly interprets the SwiftOnSecurity tweet, but that's the best I can make…

I think its more than just them using it for their apps. I think they want to turn Electron into a reusable Desktop UI framework for Windows and given the fact they now own GitHub they can force that for the Windows rendition of Electron. It all seems like almost a bad idea if it makes Edge too reliant on Chrome. I really was hoping Microsoft would instead have fully open sourced Edge. Edge could use some community love to make it a sweet out of the box Windows browser.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#189

Post by giancarlostoro »

maxxxxx wrote: post #106
interesthrow2 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony. They had HTA apps (running on IE engine which still work more or less, I replaced most default Win10 apps like the image viewer and the "groove" music player with a version of them built with HTA since they were slow as hell to start up) for 20 years already, they did barely anything with it, they didn't really invest seriously in a good browser engine (Edge isn't) and now all they can do is use Google's?…

Their desktop strategy is really confusing. I think even to themselves. It seems since around 2000 or when .NET came out they lost direction, repeatedly tried something, didn't really finish and dropped it. Mobile strategy wasn't much better.

They are fragmented and not under a single focus and that is the problem. While the executives at the top are focused on cloud those in charge of the OS and other crucial products are making some oddball decisions for whatever reason. If Microsoft could push all their teams towards a consistent vision it would be great. Otherwise we will continue to see this giant love-hate of Microsoft vs the appreciation they deserve for the things they do get right. I am company neutral so I try to appreciate companies that do some things right.

Re: Microsoft is building a Chromium browser to replace Edge on Windows 10

#190

Post by gok »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #56

A number of the comments mention monoculture. But where does monculture end and a solid reliable and honest standard begin? For exampke, at some point the power grid and gasoline formulations were standardized, yes? TV screen sizes, tin cans and shipping containers. Is the browser not the shipping container of our time? To call W3C a standard and then have different implementations is no standard at all. That is the…

"To call W3C a standard and then have different implementations is no standard at all"

Precisely false. A standard must have different implementations to ensure it is robust.

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