Now we're getting somewhere! Browser monocultures of yore happened pre-OSS. How does that change the calculus? Browser monoculture implies engine monoculture, but the inverse isn't strictly true, right?
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Replying to @slightlylate @mikesherov and
You’re not seriously saying engine monoculture would be a good thing, are you? And FWIW, Gecko went open source in the 90s, prior to the monoculture desert. Having an open source engine isn’t enough to prevent that.
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Replying to @plinss @mikesherov and
I'm not making claims that monoculture is good *or* bad. It presents risk, tho. In MSFTs example, big realised risk was disinvestment. On Gecko; wasn't NN/Mozilla's shipping engine until the 00s, right? I ran the nightlies, but it wasn't 1.0 until 2002, IIRC.
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Replying to @slightlylate @plinss and
So what is an ideal scenario? Imagine multiple engines all compatible about 99% of features all the time, exploring the frontier of new features separately, but safely, then quickly converging. Assuming such a scenario represents a competitive platform, that's pretty
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Replying to @slightlylate @plinss and
To enable that ideal scenario, Blink invests massively in compat, tests, OT infra, process, etc. One concern now is that we've done a huge amount to get compat for existing features but are pulling away on investment levels for new work, endangering competitiveness.
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Replying to @slightlylate @plinss and
Investment levels predict outcomes. Multiple impls require multiples on base impl investment + fixed compat (tests, standards) overhead. Our proprietary competition doesn't bear these costs. OSS is one cost-sharing approach; we can imagine others.
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Replying to @slightlylate @plinss and
In a scenario where the web is succeeding, all of these costs are investments in resilience. In scenarios where it's losing, they look more like competitive drag. So we should try to situate ourselves in the competitive analysis and weigh up risks from that perspective.
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Replying to @slightlylate @plinss and
I wonder if maybe we'd benefit from some independent reliable source of data and analysis on the health and competitiveness of the web platform? I respect the "we shouldn't believe the web is in trouble just because Google says so" argument.
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Replying to @RickByers @slightlylate and
Data I’ve seen seem great. Desktop web is obv fine. Mobile web: users spend a huge % of their time on a tiny number of apps (Facebook, Twitter, Insta) and use the web for most other things. I don’t see the problem, but I’m not Google so I may not be looking for the right things
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Replying to @AdamRackis @RickByers and
That's *partially* a consequence of the centralising friction that native comes with: tap+swipe much easier than typing (also, language barriers). Consequence: apps on the (limited) homescreen get much more engagement.
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Web was locked out of homescreen for the first ~decade. Only in (Android) App Stores in the past 2 years. Still functionally locked out both on iOS.
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Replying to @slightlylate @RickByers and
That seems strained. What sorts of sites do you imagine feasibly "taking" user time from FB/Tw/Insta, if only they had more seamless access to the home screen?
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