Microsoft has officially confirmed that the Edge is moving to the engine Chromium
A few days ago there were rumors that Microsoft is developing a browser based on Chromium, which will be delivered by default instead of Edge. The reason was that Microsoft employees suddenly began to commit into a free project. Now Microsoft has officially announced that it is really abandoning its own EdgeHTML engine in favor of Chromium in the desktop version of the browser.
For web developers, this is a big relief: when testing with one engine, it will be less, and a bunch of original IE / Edge features will become history. However, according to Mozilla, such a decision of colleagues from Microsoft creates a threat to the Internet, because the dominance of a single platform from Google is becoming even more total. There is a threat that Firefox will go to such a marginal niche that developers will even stop testing sites for it. The share of Firefox continues to decline. In December 2018, it dropped to its lowest level in many years: less than 9% on desktops .
Microsoft argues its decision with good intentions: “Over the past few years, Microsoft has significantly expanded its participation in the open source software community (OSS), becoming one of the world's largest supporters of OSS projects. Today, we announce that we intend to use the Chromium open source project to develop a desktop version of Microsoft Edge on the desktop to provide better web compatibility for our customers and reduce Internet fragmentation for all web developers, ”the official press release said. .
Microsoft believes that by allowing its developers to contribute to the Chromium project, they will improve not only Microsoft Edge, but other browsers on desktops and mobile devices. As a result, the Internet will become better for many audiences: “Users of Microsoft Edge (and, possibly, other browsers) will have improved compatibility with all websites, as well as the best battery life and hardware integration on all Windows devices. Web developers will get a less fragmented web platform for testing sites, which guarantees fewer problems and increases user satisfaction. ”
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"Goodbye EdgeHTML," is the title of a sympathetic Mozilla blog post. And this is not at all ironic: colleagues really regret that Microsoft refuses to develop its own engine: “By accepting Chromium for use, Microsoft gives Google more control over online life,” they write. - It may sound melodramatic, but it is not. “The browser engines — Google’s Chromium and Mozilla’s Gecko Quantum — are internal parts of the software that actually determine much of what we can do on the Internet. They define the main features: what content we as consumers can see, our safety when viewing content and how much we control websites and services. The Microsoft solution gives Google more opportunities to single-handedly decide what opportunities are available to each of us. ”
Mozilla believes that Microsoft made this decision based on business benefits: “Google is so close to almost complete control over the infrastructure of our online life that it may be unprofitable to continue to fight it. The interests of Microsoft shareholders may well be a rejection of the freedom and diversity that the Internet once offered us. Google is a tough competitor with very talented employees and a monopoly possession of unique assets. Google’s dominance in search, advertising, smartphones and data collection creates a very unfair playing field that works against all of us. ”
From a social, civil and individual point of view, the transfer of control over the fundamental online infrastructure of one company is terrible, says Mozilla. They emphasize that the preservation of power in the hands of users is the reason for the existence of the Mozilla organization as a non-profit organization. They do not look at the competition from Google in terms of business, but in terms of the welfare of the entire Internet. In this sense, it is rather sad that Firefox recently broke through another bottom: its share on desktops fell below 9% . This happened for the first time in many years, and the share of Firefox continues to decline, yielding to the total dominance of Chrome.
Mozilla admits that Chromium dominance makes life easier for developers and enterprises: in testing, we can restrict ourselves to checking that the application only works well under Chromium: “This is what happened when Microsoft had a browser monopoly in the early 2000s, before Firefox. And it can happen again. ”
For web developers, this is a big relief: when testing with one engine, it will be less, and a bunch of original IE / Edge features will become history. However, according to Mozilla, such a decision of colleagues from Microsoft creates a threat to the Internet, because the dominance of a single platform from Google is becoming even more total. There is a threat that Firefox will go to such a marginal niche that developers will even stop testing sites for it. The share of Firefox continues to decline. In December 2018, it dropped to its lowest level in many years: less than 9% on desktops .
Microsoft argues its decision with good intentions: “Over the past few years, Microsoft has significantly expanded its participation in the open source software community (OSS), becoming one of the world's largest supporters of OSS projects. Today, we announce that we intend to use the Chromium open source project to develop a desktop version of Microsoft Edge on the desktop to provide better web compatibility for our customers and reduce Internet fragmentation for all web developers, ”the official press release said. .
Microsoft believes that by allowing its developers to contribute to the Chromium project, they will improve not only Microsoft Edge, but other browsers on desktops and mobile devices. As a result, the Internet will become better for many audiences: “Users of Microsoft Edge (and, possibly, other browsers) will have improved compatibility with all websites, as well as the best battery life and hardware integration on all Windows devices. Web developers will get a less fragmented web platform for testing sites, which guarantees fewer problems and increases user satisfaction. ”
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Goodbye EdgeHTML
"Goodbye EdgeHTML," is the title of a sympathetic Mozilla blog post. And this is not at all ironic: colleagues really regret that Microsoft refuses to develop its own engine: “By accepting Chromium for use, Microsoft gives Google more control over online life,” they write. - It may sound melodramatic, but it is not. “The browser engines — Google’s Chromium and Mozilla’s Gecko Quantum — are internal parts of the software that actually determine much of what we can do on the Internet. They define the main features: what content we as consumers can see, our safety when viewing content and how much we control websites and services. The Microsoft solution gives Google more opportunities to single-handedly decide what opportunities are available to each of us. ”
Mozilla believes that Microsoft made this decision based on business benefits: “Google is so close to almost complete control over the infrastructure of our online life that it may be unprofitable to continue to fight it. The interests of Microsoft shareholders may well be a rejection of the freedom and diversity that the Internet once offered us. Google is a tough competitor with very talented employees and a monopoly possession of unique assets. Google’s dominance in search, advertising, smartphones and data collection creates a very unfair playing field that works against all of us. ”
From a social, civil and individual point of view, the transfer of control over the fundamental online infrastructure of one company is terrible, says Mozilla. They emphasize that the preservation of power in the hands of users is the reason for the existence of the Mozilla organization as a non-profit organization. They do not look at the competition from Google in terms of business, but in terms of the welfare of the entire Internet. In this sense, it is rather sad that Firefox recently broke through another bottom: its share on desktops fell below 9% . This happened for the first time in many years, and the share of Firefox continues to decline, yielding to the total dominance of Chrome.
Mozilla admits that Chromium dominance makes life easier for developers and enterprises: in testing, we can restrict ourselves to checking that the application only works well under Chromium: “This is what happened when Microsoft had a browser monopoly in the early 2000s, before Firefox. And it can happen again. ”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/432372/
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