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posted by mrpg on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-are-doomed! dept.

Mozilla's CEO is not enthusiastic about Microsoft's switch to Chromium:

When Microsoft announced that its Edge browser would be revamped using Chromium, the internet's response was generally quite positive. Edge is far from the worst browser on the planet, but it's certainly not what we'd call a fan favorite. As such, even the slightest indication that it could be changed significantly would have been welcome news for many.

However, it would seem that "many" doesn't include one individual in particular: Mozilla CEO Chris Beard. In a blog post published today, titled "Goodbye, EdgeHTML," Beard expressed his frustrations with Microsoft's decision.

"By adopting Chromium, Microsoft hands over control of even more of online life to Google," Beard writes in the post. "This may sound melodramatic, but it's not. The "browser engines" — Chromium from Google and Gecko Quantum from Mozilla — are "inside baseball" pieces of software that actually determine a great deal of what each of us can do online."

Microsoft's switch to Chromium could be a big boon for Google's own implementation.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:16PM (9 children)

    by acid andy (1683) on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:16PM (#771944) Homepage Journal

    I never thought I'd see this day. Embracing open source, Windows on ARM, dumping Windows Phone for an Android Launcher and now effectively the end of IE's legacy, this is not the Micro$oft we used to know. They're obviously fighting hard to stay relevant with what's popular in modern tech but I wonder how much they will lose what set them apart if they continue down this path. Either way, I won't touch their products as I'll never forgive them for all the telemetry and forced "upgrades" and now I have Steam Play, I have no further need of them.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:19PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:19PM (#771947)

    They're obviously fighting hard to stay relevant with what's popular in modern tech but I wonder how much they will lose what set them apart if they continue down this path
    Embrace, extend and ....

    • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:26PM (2 children)

      by acid andy (1683) on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:26PM (#771953) Homepage Journal

      I thought of that but I'd be seriously amazed if they managed to extinguish anything of value to Google. I could maybe see them poisoning Chromium somehow but Google have the resources to just make a new browser whenever they want (or continue with their own branch of the source and maybe rebrand it if the name is tainted).

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      If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
      • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:23PM (1 child)

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:23PM (#771974) Journal

        My first thought was that it's a huge, loser move to concede that they can't make a decent browser on their own and have to use somebody else's code. M$ is a charter member of the corporate software club who feels not the slightest shame in using others' code, for all they scream about piracy and try to deeply embed DRM in software.

        • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday December 09 2018, @08:27PM

          by Gaaark (41) on Sunday December 09 2018, @08:27PM (#772080) Journal

          It's too bad Google couldn't charge MS a patent fee for using it.

          Payback would be such a nice bitch.

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          --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:26PM (3 children)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:26PM (#771952) Homepage Journal

    You say that like...

    But seriously: just the other day MS surpassed Apple as the world's most valueable company.

    The last time I personally visited their homepage it was actually difficult to find their links to windows and office.

    MS is now far far more like IBM and Oracle: their product offering are no more than ways to facilitate their consulting services.

    I expect google and amazons clouds are more popular among those who roll their own solutions, whereas I expect Microsofts Cloud is more popular among those that retain Microsoft's consultants to roll them on their behalf

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    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Nerdfest on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:38PM (2 children)

      by Nerdfest (80) on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:38PM (#772010)

      Their business these days seems to be bribing government and purchasing agents to throw money at Azure to give them a chance at continuing the lock-in. Azure has poor performance and reliability compared to their competition. Without lock-in or continuing bribes, they're done.

      The backing off on the browser front is unusual though, as Edge might have helped them, but I guess it's just too broken. They've gone from "Explorer", to "Edge", and I'm guessing the finalized name of this new browser will be "Just the Tip".

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:59PM (1 child)

        by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:59PM (#772020) Homepage Journal

        A couple months ago I listed many of Oracle's locations at Soggy Jobs.

        A great many of its shops are located in national capitals.

        Surely We Are Doomed.

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        • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Sunday December 09 2018, @10:18PM

          by Nerdfest (80) on Sunday December 09 2018, @10:18PM (#772102)

          Yeah, thinking about it, you're very right about the similarities to IBM as well. Luckily, as with both of the other companies, their relevance continues to drop.

  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday December 09 2018, @08:16PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Sunday December 09 2018, @08:16PM (#772077) Journal

    Welcome to the dark side, where you don't have to accept cookies!

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