google, firefox, browser development, and comments of mild impending doom
There is a realistic chance that Google's funding of Firefox/Mozilla through default search engine deals will be struck down by a court in the current antitrust case.
If that happens, I do not think Mozilla can survive financially on their own, at least not at the scale they are operating at right now, despite their half-assed attempts at "creating other revenue streams" over the years. I also question the maintainability of their existing browser codebase.
So. If you've been contemplating whether to start building a new browser engine... now's the time to start. This is your advance warning. Make sure it's one you don't need millions of dollars for to maintain.
It's going to take a while, most likely, for all of this stuff to go through the courts, so there's time. But building a browser engine is a big task, too, and ideally it should be started *before* things implode over at Mozilla.
google, firefox, browser development, and comments of mild impending doom
@joepie91 Depending on how badly the antitrust case goes for Google there's also the chance they just won't pay for it anymore. It's always been antitrust "insurance", so if it isn't working why bother.
google, firefox, browser development, and comments of mild impending doom
@joepie91 ladybird browser seems cool. Maybe they could get some more attention and contributors, especially if or when what you're predicting here comes to pass.
discussion, re: google, firefox, browser development, and comments of mild impending doom
@Byte I think it's good it exists. I'm concerned about its use of C++ which, while understandable from a historical perspective of where it comes from, is really not a good choice for what's arguably the largest attack surface on a modern system.
(There are also some maintainability arguments to be made here, but trying to discuss that somehow always seems to end up in flamewars)
google, firefox, browser development, and comments of mild impending doom
@joepie91 while I think the codebase/engine will take a long time to go from idea to a working product, I think the sooner that project starts building a community is the key factor in surviving. Right now the level of uncertainty with Firefox has people looking for alternatives so starting to build that community now will probably be easier than after people have been forced to settle for a Chromium based browser.