Earlier quoted context omitted.
You must have not noticed that Chrome is the new IE, or that they recently revoked API keys that open source Chromium forks (including ones that just disable certain features, so they are 99% the same as official Chrome) have been using for years to allow them to sync bookmarks and the like.
> "Chrome is the new IE" Safari is the new IE. It's stagnated in the same way IE did, which has slowed the progression of web standards. How long did it take to get input type="date"? Apple's attack on PWAs also shows they wish to neuter the web to encourage use of their app store (where they take a 30% cut) instead. > "or that they recently revoked API keys..." The code is open-source, but they aren't obligated to g…
Chrome is not like IE in that it stagnates the web. It's like IE in that it reinforces the dominance of nearly the entire web by a single company - Google.
Chrome, also much like IE, has a stranglehold on what makes it into new web standards and what doesn't. That the web standards are technically open is irrelevant, if Google de-facto rules the whole standardisation process. What they decide goes, goes. What they decide doesn't go, doesn't. The W3C standards process is neutered at best, and corrupt at worst.
Hypothetically, even if they weren't the dominant W3C stakeholder, their market share gives them control over the experience and control of an enormous amount of users. They can trial and enforce FLoC, Manifest v3, and other changes that take away user control. Once user expectations get readjusted, culture around such toxic features shifts and they become acceptable. I'd be surprised if that's the end of it.
Some websites only get tested on/built for Chrome ("works best with IE"), because "everyone only uses, develops and tests on Chrome anyways". Non-Webkit/Blink browsers are collateral damage. Most webby runtimes like Electron, and most third party browsers, will also embed some variant of Blink these days. This leads to browser engine monoculture, and is capital-B Bad. Firefox managed to outmanouver IE by being bug-for-bug compatible enough, but these days, web standards are two orders of magnitude or more complex. The effort needed to build a new, compatible browser engine is more akin to building something like Wine[0] from scratch.
[0] winehq.org
> The code is open-source, but they aren't obligated to grant access to their services.
Of course they aren't. But this is after letting open source projects do it for years. What changed now, all of a sudden? Besides, the open browsers that are more-or-less straight-up Chromium forks usually are not materially different. Just a different logo and maybe some telemetry ripped out, big deal. The kind of person that uses Google sync in a fork is the kind of person who already's in deep into the Google ecosystem. They really don't have a reason NOT to let people use FOSS-specific API keys, especially since any abuse they might get because of these is so miniscule it's not worth mentioning.