Comment by lolinder

1 year ago

> Anyone can go build a web browser if they want to.

Anyone can build a web browser that can navigate the web as it existed in the 90s, but that's not true of the modern web. To a cynical observer it would certainly appear that Google has made a concerted effort to make the web standards nearly impossible to fully implement from scratch. I look forward to seeing if Ladybird can actually become production ready and fully usable, but that effort is notable precisely because the conventional wisdom is that it's essentially impossible to compete with Google anymore with a new browser.

Only Safari really exists in a form that can check Google's power—which is ironically only possible because of Apple's walled garden that prevents all other engines from competing on their platform.

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lolinder

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kohbo  1 year ago

only Safari?

You don't feel like Firefox (and it's derivatives) can do that?

  • lolinder  1 year ago

    No. I used to, but I've changed my mind recently.

    Firefox is driven by Mozilla, which has long since lost the plot and shows no sign of regaining it. If Firefox were forkable we'd have seen one by now, but even Brendan Eich himself chose Chrome as the base for his browser.

    I would love to be proven wrong, but my prediction for ten years out is that Mozilla will finally have gone under and Firefox won't be maintainable any more.

    (Writing this from Firefox. I'll hold out as long as it's possible to hold out.)

    • cosmic_cheese  1 year ago

      Zen Browser is shaping up to be a nice fork, but if development on Firefox/Gecko stagnates or stops entirely due to Mozilla folding or something, it’s gonna be in a tough position.