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 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)
