Browsers are basically an operating system now. For comparison, nobody cares that the Linux kernel isn't a standard. Nobody wants a "competing" Linux kernel implementation. The implementation itself is the standard and reference and that's totally fine.

The problem with looming IE dominance in the old days was that it was closed-source and proprietary, but that's not the case with modern day engines. In the FOSS world, competition isn't really a big driver. It just causes redundant work.

> A world where Blink has 80%+ marketshare (which is pretty much what we have or where we're headed) is one where a single group can dictate the standard for everyone else.

That's just not true. Any piece of software can be transformed into another piece of software. If <Upstream> really wants some feature I don't want, I can patch it out. If I publish some feature that <Upstream> thinks is good, they can just merge it.

Of course it would be good if <Upstream> was more like the LLVM-Foundation and not "literally Google", but the point is that having just one engine isn't the same as one party controlling the implementation. Microsoft obviously understands this, or they wouldn't choose Chromium as the new basis for Edge.