Tag Archives: gecko

Web Browser Ecology After Microsoft Ditches EdgeHTML for Blink

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In re: https://css-tricks.com/the-ecological-impact-of-browser-diversity/

I think the issue of ecological diversity as you presented in your post is complicated by the issue of open- and closed-source web browser engines.

MacOS would not have existed in the first place if Apple had not acquired NeXT and its partially open-source, BSD-derived OS NeXTSTEP, nor would Safari have accomplished basic compliance with W3C specs if they had not used KHTML and other web utilities from the KDE project. Similarly, Android and Chrome would not have gotten anywhere near what they have become if they hadn’t used Linux and WebKit as a launching pad.

I know that you wrote this post months before Microsoft announced that they were ditching EdgeHTML for Chromium/Blink, but I don’t know whether to feel sorry or a sense of schadenfreude over this moment.

If Opera had open-sourced Presto or Microsoft had open-sourced EdgeHTML, Trident or even Tasman (for IE for Mac), maybe those platforms would have seen a longer future of investment from interested developers like Gecko and KHTML/WebKit/Blink all have. Maybe Microsoft would have had a better experience in developing Trident and not need to fork it into EdgeHTML after years of neglect. Maybe they would have had a better competitive fight against the monoculture which now trends in Google’s direction. I wish that they would had finally opened up their browser development to the open source community and continued their evolution.

But they’ve both cut themselves off from their own proprietary engines to use the popular open-source one that anybody can use. That makes sense for the bottom line and is good for extending Blink and Chromium into more hardware applications, but it’s shameless and sad that the open-source community will never get to see/build/extend/distribute Presto nor Trident/EdgeHTML into longer-lasting, more evolved engines; it’s even more shameless given how Microsoft spent so many years trying to defend IE from both Firefox and Chrome using unethical practices.

I also expect that MS will eventually fork Blink, just like Google forked it from WebKit and Apple forked WebKit from KHTML, since the open source ecosystem allows for this to happen in a way that would take place differently with closed-source regimes. But I think the dynamic open source developer community has been denied a massive opportunity to further the evolution and competition of browser engines with this forced exit of EdgeHTML into obscurity. 

Uninformed: Mozilla – the Intel of browsers?

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Is Mozilla the Intel of web browser makers?

As I’ve probably said before, I find the foundation/corporation to be rather set in its ways, convinced that the Mozilla platform, which has been ported for use on a number of operating systems, offers enough clout for them to continue development of their flagship web browser. Any issues that the users of the browser may face is the cause for further improvement of parts of the platform, rather than total replacement of these components.

For instance, Mozilla’s proponents and developers felt slighted when Apple passed over the Gecko layout engine in favor of KDE’s KHTML/KJS for their WebKit platform.

Furthermore, Mozilla tends to view itself as the vanguard of the web, and has promoted the Gecko engine as being more “compatible” with a variety of web sites and web standards than other layout engines, including the WebKit/KHTML engines.

But on another note, the comparison between Gecko and WebKit should take into account the folks who support, use or promote either engine. While Mozilla, a cross-platform browser maker, is the largest promoter and supporter of Gecko, WebKit tends to be supported and promoted by a variety of groups: the most monied of these supporters are the mobile device or software makers, such as Nokia/Trolltech, Apple, and Google (via Android).

Does this mean that Mozilla and Gecko is similar to Intel and its 30-year-old x86 chip architecture, while WebKit and its promoters are similar to the PowerPC architecture and its supporters (IBM, Freescale)?