Comment by chrismorgan
14 hours ago
Again, that’s prior discussion. It’s happened a few times over the last few years.
Then another few months pass, and one of the agitators goes about formally proposing removing it, so that finally it isn’t just murmurings more or less behind closed doors, but out in public for the developers to clamour about. That’s where we are this month.
Again, that prior discussion that you're dismissing as irrelevant - is the discussion the Chromium report links to! I don't think that can really get more definitive as cause and effect.
I’m not calling it irrelevant, just not part of the actual proposal and ensuing furore, which began this month. We discover there have been mutterings of this for years, and certainly those things led up to it, but this was the first public intimation. They don’t ever say “hi public, we know this is the first you’ve heard about it, but we’re removing a major feature next month”, which is basically what you were claiming (or what it amounted to). Far simpler and less controversial changes have taken many months to be shipped.