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0 pointstikkabhuna7y ago0 comments

As Chromium is open source, wouldn't someone then fork it and re-add those features or maintain Mac support?

It seems like there is little motivation to maintain a separate browser at the moment, but one day Google may do something that motivates people to fork/create a new one. That could be a big bang moment or just a slow crawl that opens up a niche that a new browser could fill.

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2 comments · 1 top-level

zaarn7y ago· 1 in thread

Maintaining a browser fork is a lot of work. And Google can simply decide to close-source their browser engine once their takeover is complete. What could anyone do about it? Google just keeps adding features until all Chromium forks die off.

chii7y ago

The problem is not the source but the way Google can affect the standard.

The biggest is DRM. If stuff like that gets into the standard where only large players can make a compliant implementation, then it becomes a huge problem for the web.

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