Comment by _heimdall
1 month ago
Browser engines are extremely difficult to start today because of the extensive, complicated, and ever growing list of specifications.
We had a web before open standards. It wasn't the best user experience and each browser was somewhat of a walled garden, but there was heavy competition in the space.
It was a literal hellscape before open standards.
I imagine there's most likely a subset of the population who believe that open standards are aligned conceptually to regulation, and that any form of regulation in a free market is wrong.
This subset of the population is misguided at best, and delusional at worst.
Open standards are essential.
Did that hellacape include more competition between companies building web browsers?
With Microsoft bundling IE with the OS, no.