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Google is killing the open web, part 2

(wok.oblomov.eu)
418 points akagusu | 10 comments | 17 Nov 25 15:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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nwellnhof ◴[17 Nov 25 16:33 UTC] No.45955183[source]▶
Removing XSLT from browsers was long overdue and I'm saying that as ex-maintainer of libxslt who probably triggered (not caused) this removal. What's more interesting is that Chromium plans to switch to a Rust-based XML parser. Currently, they seem to favor xml-rs which only implements a subset of XML. So apparently, Google is willing to remove standards-compliant XML support as well. This is a lot more concerning.
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xmcp123 ◴[17 Nov 25 16:37 UTC] No.45955239[source]▶
It’s interesting to see the casual slide of Google towards almost internet explorer 5.1 style behavior, where standards can just be ignored “because market share”.

Having flashbacks of “<!--[if IE 6]> <script src="fix-ie6.js"></script> <![endif]-->”

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granzymes ◴[17 Nov 25 16:47 UTC] No.45955346[source]▶
The standards body is deprecating XSLT with support from Mozilla and Safari (Mozilla first proposed the removal).

Not sure how you got from that to “Google is ignoring standards”.

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1. echelon ◴[17 Nov 25 17:45 UTC] No.45955964[source]▶
Then standards body is Google and a bunch of companies consuming Google engine code.
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2. dewey ◴[17 Nov 25 17:54 UTC] No.45956047[source]▶
I guess you mean except Mozilla and Safari...which are the two other competing browser engines? It's not like a it's a room full of Chromium based browsers.
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3. Forgeties79 ◴[17 Nov 25 18:23 UTC] No.45956341[source]▶
Safari yes

Mozilla…are they actually competing? Like really and truly.

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4. bigyabai ◴[17 Nov 25 18:49 UTC] No.45956635{3}[source]▶
Mozilla has proven they can exist in a free market; really and truly, they do compete.

Safari is what I'm concerned about. Without Apple's monopoly control, Safari is guaranteed to be a dead engine. WebKit isn't well-enough supported on Linux and Windows to compete against Blink and Gecko, which suggests that Safari is the most expendable engine of the three.

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5. meindnoch ◴[17 Nov 25 18:53 UTC] No.45956683{4}[source]▶
>Mozilla has proven they can exist in a free market; really and truly, they do compete.

This gave me a superb belly laugh.

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6. noosphr ◴[17 Nov 25 19:24 UTC] No.45957121{4}[source]▶
If your main competitor is giving you 90% of your revenue they aren't a competitor.
7. nerdponx ◴[17 Nov 25 19:34 UTC] No.45957268{4}[source]▶
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45955979 this sibling comment says it best
8. themafia ◴[17 Nov 25 21:04 UTC] No.45958277[source]▶
Do Mozilla and Safari _not_ take money from Google?
9. oblio ◴[17 Nov 25 22:43 UTC] No.45959262{5}[source]▶
Mozilla used to compete well but that ended... at least 10 years ago?
10. Forgeties79 ◴[18 Nov 25 02:01 UTC] No.45960565{4}[source]▶
I really can’t imagine Safari is going anywhere. Meanwhile the Mozilla Foundation has been very poorly steering the ship for several years and has rightfully earned the reputation it has garnered as a result. There’s a reason there are so many superior forks. They waste their time on the strangest pet projects.

Honestly the one thing I don’t begrudge them is taking Google’s money to make them the default search engine. That’s a very easy deal with the devil to make especially because it’s so trivial to change your default search engine which I imagine a large percentage of Firefox users do with glee. But what they have focused on over the last couple of years has been very strange to watch.

I know Proton gets mixed feelings around here, but to me it’s always seemed like Proton and Mozilla should be more coordinated. Feel like they could do a lot of interesting things together