State of the Browser 2022

Transcript

1. @brucel §
2. @brucel “History is written by the winners” - Mark Twain
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4. @brucel Sgrah / fl ickr
5. @brucel Fake Gnus.
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7. @brucel October 1998
8. @brucel For the Good of the Web: An Open Letter to Netscape (20 July 2000) TWO YEARS AGO, when your market share was still high as a kite, you pledged to fully support fi ve key standards in the next version of your browser... At last you are talking about shipping product by the end of the year. Sounds great – except that it’s the wrong year.
9. @brucel Continuing to periodically “upgrade” your old browser while failing to address its basic fl aws has made it appear that you still consider Navigator 4 viable. It is not. ... keeping your 4.0 browser on the market has forced developers to continue writing bad code in order to support it. If you fail now, the web will essentially belong to a single company. And for once, nobody will be able to blame them for “competing unfairly.” So please, for your own good, and the good of the web, deliver on your promises while Netscape 6 still has the chance to make a di ff erence.
10. @brucel The fi rst public builds of Mozilla two years later (2000) were rather disappointing, with many mid- level PCs of the time too slow to run the larger codebase At release, the browser was deemed too unstable for production use. Netscape 6 was facing new competition from Internet Explorer 6.0, released in the summer of 2001.
11. @brucel I.E. TLE MANIA!
12. @brucel Internet Explorer 6 beta shows great promise www.techrepublic.com/article/internet-explorer-6-beta-shows-great-promise/1033023 12
13. @brucel Microsoft Internet Explorer offers few quirks and many superb features... After introducing IE-only layout features such as scrolling marquees and colored table borders in earlier versions, Microsoft is now committed to the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium. https://www.pcmag.com/archive/microsoft-internet-explorer-60-31190 13
14. @brucel IE6 for Windows delivers fine support for HTML 4, CSS-1, and other important W3C standards. web.archive.org/web/20011201032740/http://www.webstandards.org/upgrade/ 14
15. @brucel I Love This Browser! I have loved browsing the web since I started way back in the mid 90s, and I really love browsing with IE. Scott Stearns Test Manager, IE blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2004/07/21/190747.aspx 15
16. @brucel We loved IE6 • DOCTYPE switching (for broken box model) • HTML Components (.htc fi les) • CSS Expressions • Page transitions • IE fi lters and DHTML behaviors • Data binding, saving state

17. @brucel Bugs bugs bugs • Peekaboo Bug • IE Three Pixel Text Jog • Creeping Text Bug • Missing First Letter Bug • Phantom Box Bug • Duplicate Indent Bug • Doubled Float-Margin Bug • Unscrollable Content Bug • IE 6 Duplicate Characters Bug • Creeping Text Bug • Disappearing List-Background Bug
18. @brucel Voodoo CSS * html div {position: relative;} * html div {zoom: 1;}
19. @brucel DX > UX ??
20. @brucel Microsoft decided to tightly couple new Internet Explorer releases to Windows releases. So they dismantled the Internet Explorer team and integrated it into the Windows product team.
21. @brucel MicroZzZoft Windows Vista was massively delayed, which delayed a new Internet Explorer release and left the web in a vacuum, with no one fi xing bugs and improving existing technology. When Microsoft woke up fi ve years later, it was already too late. https://dev.to/schepp/today-the-trident-era-ends-7k5
22. @brucel Google pays AdSense publishers (Web site owners) $1 for each new user who installs Firefox + Google Toolbar as a result of a referral link from one of their pages. https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/a-dangerous-con fl ict-of-interest-between- fi refox-and-google/
23. @brucel Firefox gains June 2004 Firefox downloads surge after US government warns of security exploits in Internet Explorer December 2004 Community sponsored advertisement for Firefox appears in the New York Times
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28. @brucel Napple SVP of software Eddy Cue, who reports directly to Tim Cook, wrote in 2013 “The reason we lost Safari on Windows is the same reason we are losing Safari on Mac. We didn’t innovate or enhance Safari….We had an amazing start and then stopped innovating… Look at Chrome. They put out releases at least every month while we basically do it once a year.” https://twitter.com/patrickmcgee_/status/1389632382244847623?lang=en
29. @brucel Progressive Web Apps • Web sites ++ • Can save to home screen, open full-screen • Can work o ff l ine (using Service Workers) • Much smaller initial install, instant updates but only the changes • Twitter, Wordle web.dev/learn/pwa/
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31. @brucel APIs not in Safari
32. @brucel Rule 2.5.6 Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#software-requirements
33. @brucel The illusion of competition
34. @brucel The patch gap WebKit is the outlier in this analysis, with the longest number of days to release a patch at 73 days https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-walk-through-project-zero-metrics.html
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36. @brucel open-web-advocacy.org
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39. @brucel Browsers are powered by an ‘engine,’ which is fundamental to browser performance.… Apple bans alternatives to its own browser engine on its mobile devices; a restriction that is unique to Apple. The CMA is concerned this severely limits the potential for rival browsers to di ff erentiate themselves from Safari (for example, on features such as speed and functionality) and limits Apple’s incentives to invest in its browser engine. This restriction also seriously inhibits the capability of web apps – apps that run on a browser rather than having to be individually downloaded – depriving consumers and businesses of the full bene fi ts of this innovative technology. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-plans-market-investigation-into-mobile-browsers-and-cloud-gaming
40. @brucel https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-10-10/59784
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45. @brucel Gatekeepers can no longer: • rank their own products or services higher than those of others (self-preferencing) • reuse private data collected during a service for the purposes of another service • establish unfair conditions for business users • pre-install certain software applications • require app developers to use certain services (e.g. payment systems or identity providers) in order to be listed in app stores
46. @brucel Browser engines each browser is built on a web browser engine, which is responsible for key browser functionality such as speed, reliability and web compatibility. When gatekeepers operate and impose web browser engines, they are in a position to determine the functionality and standards that will apply not only to their own web browsers, but also to competing web browsers and, in turn, to web software applications.
47. @brucel Gatekeepers should therefore not use their position to require their dependent business users to use any of the services provided together with, or in support of, core platform services by the gatekeeper itself as part of the provision of services or products by those business users gatekeepers should also be prohibited from requiring end users to use such services
48. @brucel Big teeth If a gatekeeper violates the rules laid down in the legislation, it risks a fi ne of up to 10% of its total worldwide turnover. For a repeat o ff ence, a fi ne of up to 20% of its worldwide turnover may be imposed.
49. @brucel Apple employees are very sad :-(
50. @brucel Set Safari free!
51. @brucel
52. @brucel bruce-lawson.bandcamp.com • “Wish I’d written this” - Paul McCartney • “Catchy, if somewhat vapid” - Vengaboys • “A wondrous debut from a totally talented megahunk” - Britney Spears • “OK, but not Canadian enough” - Stinky Taylar • “Cheeky cheeky” - The Cheeky Girls
53. @brucel Jim Morrison December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971
54. @brucel Amy Winehouse 14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011 Photo by Rama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse#/media/ File:Amy_Winehouse_f4962007_crop.jpg
55. @brucel Kurt Cobain February 20, 1967 – c. April 5, 1994 Photo: Adam Jones https://www. fl ickr.com/people/41000732@N04
56. @brucel Jimi Hendrix November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970
57. @brucel Internet Explorer 1995 – June 15, 2022
58. @brucel Thanks and Snogs! www.brucelawson.co.uk www.open-web-advocacy.org 58