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State of the Browser 2022

State of the Browser 2022

bruce lawson

October 22, 2022
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  1. @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.
  2. @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.
  3. @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.
  4. @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
  5. @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
  6. @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
  7. @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

  8. @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
  9. @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.
  10. @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
  11. @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/
  12. @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
  13. @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
  14. @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/
  15. @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
  16. @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
  17. @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
  18. @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
  19. @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.
  20. @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
  21. @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.
  22. @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
  23. @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
  24. @brucel Kurt Cobain February 20, 1967 – c. April 5,

    1994 Photo: Adam Jones https://www. fl ickr.com/people/41000732@N04