Google together with The Linux Foundation have announced Supporters of Chromium-based Browsers, a new initiative to fund future development of the entire Chromium ecosystem. It already has a few big names joining in including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Opera.
"With the launch of the Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers, we are taking another step forward in empowering the open source community," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "This project will provide much-needed funding and development support for open development of projects within the Chromium ecosystem."
The idea is to provide what they call a "neutral space" where various industry leaders and developers can work together to support various Chromium related projects and collaborate. The Linux Foundation say it will follow an "open governance model" that they've successfully established with other initiatives.
According to Google, their developers accounted for around 94% of Chromium code commits in 2024. They have "no intention of reducing this investment" but the initiative will help contribute "towards the health of the Chromium ecosystem and financially support a community of developers who want to contribute to the project, encouraging widespread support and continued technological progress for Chromium embedders".
What they're not saying though is that Google have likely done this partnership due to the US Department of Justice (DOJ)'s demands for Google to sell off Chrome. A decision on which is supposed to be reached by the Summer this year. This is quite probably a step towards uncoupling the future of Chrome and Chromium from being a mostly-Google thing in preparation for whatever happens there.
Considering how Chrome has close to 70% of the browser market globally (Statcounter), along with the Chromium Embedded Framework being everywhere, this is a good thing no matter what in my opinion to have more companies and people get a proper say in the future of the web.
Sources: The Linux Foundation, Google
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Well, Linux isn't a niche market for decades now. It has more than 60% of market on servers and if you consider smartphones as well it is the most used (Android).This is why I explicitly specified desktop Linux, in the context of market shares that Liam set in the comment I replied to. And I added that wink at the end of the sentence to indicate that I wasn't entirely serious about the comparison. I just thought it might resonate with Liam.
However, I was entirely serious about the rest of my comment. Monopolies are harmful to progress and innovation, even in the free software ecosystem. We might not be talking about traditional capitalistic markets here and it's not a zero-sum game, but competition and alternatives should be supported and encouraged, not dismissed.
Also, I prefer Firefox.
I don't see the web the same as I see operating systems. Linux / Windows you have to specifically install and set up on your systems (or buy pre-installed, whatever). The web is just...there, already set up and your system goes and looks it up. I'm simplifying for the comment, I know the web itself runs on different systems, I'm speaking for the end-user and for web-developers.
Having one main web "system" (browser in this case) that everyone tests against and builds against, to me, is just better than having to go and test the same thing across many different browser engines. Again, I don't see it like I see the desktop OS, because that's your device in your hands.
And now, having Chromium be a little less "just Google" with actual support for others getting involved - this is better for everyone in the end. We all want to rely on Google less for various reasons, this is a step in the right direction for that.
Oh, and every-time i use Firefox, I always end up going back to Chrome. I just never have a good experience with Firefox personally. Plus, I've never subscribed to the thought of just having to support something (Firefox in this case) because it's smaller. Both Firefox and Chromium are open source.
I love Thunderbird, I find it useful, but I think Mozilla have been completely useless with Firefox for a long time.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 11 Jan 2025 at 12:01 pm UTC
I don't see the web the same as I see operating systems. Linux / Windows you have to specifically install and set up on your systems (or buy pre-installed, whatever). The web is just...there, already set up and your system goes and looks it up. I'm simplifying for the comment, I know the web itself runs on different systems, I'm speaking for the end-user and for web-developers.And how much of the software ecosystem is built on top of browser engines these days? As you know, a huge swathe of all mobile apps and an unnecessarily big chunk of desktop software as well are built with web technology and rely on browser engines to provide the "runtime". Browsers are almost like operating systems on top of operating systems now. Even more true on ChromeOS and specialized stuff like LG's WebOS.
I can't really agree with your view of the web in general, from any viewpoint but especially that of a developer. The times when IE was the only platform that mattered were horrible for web developers. There's no reason to believe it'd be any different the next time around. I'm glad Mozilla (and others) saved us from that nightmare.
Having one main web "system" (browser in this case) that everyone tests against and builds against, to me, is just better than having to go and test the same thing across many different browser engines.That's what standards are for. But if there's only one dominant implementation provider, they're free to ignore standards and break their implementations as they see fit, as everyone has to adjust to their quirks anyway. We've seen this happen.
And now, having Chromium be a little less "just Google" with actual support for others getting involved - this is better for everyone in the end. We all want to rely on Google less for various reasons, this is a step in the right direction for that.This we can agree on. Although Meta and Microsoft aren't exactly names I trust either when it comes to important stuff like privacy and business ethics.
I have no idea what Opera does these days. I used their browser back before Phoenix / Firebird / Firefox took that spot.
Oh, and every-time i use Firefox, I always end up going back to Chrome. I just never have a good experience with Firefox personally.My experiences are the opposite (and just as subjective as yours).
Plus, I've never subscribed to the thought of just having to support something (Firefox in this case) because it's smaller. Both Firefox and Chromium are open source.Of course not. I'm arguing there's value in choice and competition for users, developers, and everyone else.
Besides, I don't trust any of these particular corporations to put any resources towards a feature or fix that only benefits the user. Their angle is and will always be to extract profit from us. And if there's no open source competition, they're even less cautious about stripping functionality that hinders their ability to exploit us. However, if another popular browser implements let's say popular privacy features to attract users, those are worth innovating / investing in to keep users from switching away.
Last edited by tuubi on 11 Jan 2025 at 2:18 pm UTC
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