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For the first time in years, someone is building a web browser from scratch:
For more than two decades, building a new web browser from scratch has been practically unheard of. But a small company called Ekioh has its reasons.
The Cambridge, U.K.-based company is developing a browser called Flow, and unlike the vast majority of browsers that have arrived in recent years, it's not based on Google's Chromium or Apple's WebKit open-source code. Instead, Flow is starting with a blank slate and building its own rendering engine. Its goal is to make web-based apps run smoothly even on cheap microcomputers such as the Raspberry Pi.
There's a reason companies don't do this anymore: Experts say building new browsers isn't worth the trouble when anyone can just modify the work that Apple and Google are doing. But if Flow succeeds, it could rethink the way we browse the web and open the door to cheaper gadgets. That at least seems like a goal worth pursuing.
"It's a huge task, but if you want something which is very small and very fast, you typically can't start with one of the other engines," says Stephen Reeder, Ekioh's commercial director.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @12:11PM (5 children)
If Google even thinks Flow could succeed as a viable competitor platform, they will propose a massive nigh-unimplementable amendment to the W3C standards (purposefully crafted to break Flow's models), implement it themselves in Chrome thus presenting it as a fiat-acompli and nipping the competition in the bud.
The more likely long term option is that the "web", that the web browser collapses under its own weight and users move on to a newer, faster, more fun platform on the internet.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Kilo110 on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:08PM (3 children)
They'd probably just buy them out.
Having a super fast browser that's optimized for low-end devices would be a big deal for building market share in developing countries. Most devices in those areas are exactly that, low-end devices with limited storage and performance.
It'd be a big leg up over the competition.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday March 17 2021, @01:25PM (1 child)
I would think this is the case, if Apple/Google/Facebook etc notice that this product is taking off they'll just buy it. They are each already buying probably hundreds of companies a year -- some get merged into their product line and some just goes away. So the question is if they are just going to buy it to scrap it or if they'll buy it to use it. While in theory we would all like small and fast software it probably won't contain all their telemetry and spying features they need to satisfy their advertisers (ie their real customers).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 17 2021, @02:03PM
I would guess FB might want to get this one, just as a shield against the other two.
As much as I hate FB, I would prefer this end to either of the others getting it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday March 17 2021, @02:15PM
A much more gooder
strategytragedy would be: Google could support them with a generous funding. For a while. Let them hire people and grow the organization. Pay to be the default search engine. Then pull the rug out. People leave because they must have income. Project collapses.To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 18 2021, @12:48PM