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418 points akagusu | 6 comments | | HN request time: 0.202s | source | bottom
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nwellnhof ◴[] 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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svieira ◴[] No.45955425[source]
> Removing XSLT from browsers was long overdue

> Google is willing to remove standards-compliant XML support as well.

> They're the same picture.

To spell it out, "if it's inconvenient, it goes", is something that the _owner_ does. The culture of the web was "the owners are those who run the web sites, the servants are the software that provides an entry point to the web (read or publish or both)". This kind of "well, it's dashed inconvenient to maintain a WASM layer for a dependency that is not safe to vendor any more as a C dependency" is not the kind of servant-oriented mentality that made the web great, not just as a platform to build on, but as a platform to emulate.

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Aurornis ◴[] No.45956012[source]
> The culture of the web was "the owners are those who run the web sites, the servants are the software that provides an entry point to the web (read or publish or both)".

This is an attempt to rewrite history.

Early browser like NCSA Mosaic were never even released as Open Source Software.

Netscape Navigator made headlines by offering a free version for academic or non-profit use, but they wanted to charge as much as $99 (in 1995 dollars!) for the browser.

Microsoft got in trouble for bundling a web browser with their operating system.

The current world where we have true open source browser options like Chromium is probably closer to a true open web than what some people have retconned the early days of the web as being.

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1. croes ◴[] No.45956252[source]
The web wasn’t the browser it was the protocols.
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2. dpark ◴[] No.45956306[source]
That’s not an accurate statement. The web was not just the protocols. It was the protocols and the servers that served them and the browsers that supported them and the web sites that were built with them. There is no web without browsers just like there is no web without websites.
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3. akerl_ ◴[] No.45956417[source]
Most of the protocol specs were written retroactively to match functionality that browsers were already using in the wild.
4. hluska ◴[] No.45957827[source]
I can’t understand why you’re splitting hairs to this extent. The web is protocols; some are implemented at server side whereas others are implemented at browser side. They’re all still protocols with a big dollop of marketing.

That statement was accurate enough if you’re willing to read actively and provide people with the most minimal benefit of the doubt.

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5. dpark ◴[] No.45957990{3}[source]
My response is in a chain discussing browsers in response to someone who literally said “The web wasn’t the browser it was the protocols.”

I responded essentially “it was indeed also the browser”, which it seems you agree with so I don’t know what you’re even trying to argue about.

> willing to read actively and provide people with the most minimal benefit of the doubt.

Indeed

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6. croes ◴[] No.45970570{4}[source]
My point is, you could write your own server and your own browser to participate in the web, but you have to follow the protocols.