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Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture

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On 2019-03-11, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:
>>  And as if to prove a point, the update works only in Edge and Chrome.
>>  Firefox, Safari, and even Opera are locked out. In the past, the Skype
>>  team has pointed to codec issues as the reason for inconsistent browser
>>  support. But that shouldn't be a concern these days, as both the H.264
>>  and VP8 video codecs are supported in Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. Google
>>  Hangouts and Google Meet support plugin-free video calling in Firefox,
>>  for example, as have other online services. For a long time, Apple
>>  refused to support WebRTC\u2014the underlying browser technology used
>>  for real-time voice and video chatting\u2014in Safari. But even that
>>  feature gap doesn't exist any more, and Safari should now support
>>  everything required. Further Reading Google isn\u2019t the company that
>>  we should have handed the Web over to
>>
>>  Further, users who have tried changing their user-agent\u2014the
>>  identification string, sent by browsers, that tells Web servers what
>>  version of which browser they are\u2014have reported that much of the
>>  app works in both Safari and Firefox, with reports that even voice and
>>  video calls work in Firefox. It's not clear that everything works, and
>>  WebRTC is arguably persnickety enough that Microsoft would have to
>>  explicitly test and perhaps tweak its code to work in Firefox or Safari.
>>  But ultimately, none of this appears to be a fundamental tech issue.
>>
>>  Rather, it's a being bothered to do the work issue. Microsoft has said
>>  that its decision to prioritize Edge and Chrome is based on "customer
>>  value." Or, to put it another way, there's not much point in taking the
>>  time and effort to support browsers that have a small audience. This
>>  creates a negative feedback loop for those browsers, discouraging their
>>  use and pushing developers toward a world in which Chrome is the only
>>  browser that developers think about and target.

Except, except, except ... Vivaldi (it's my main browser) is also based
on the Chrome rendering engine. So it's not even the laziness of not
wanting to develop for niche browsers, it's pure douchebaggery of the
sort we saw from this very same company just over a decade ago ... so
short a time period this "strategery" could easily be the result of the
very same asshats at Microsoft.

I know some cycles repeat themselves, but to have gone from a browser
monopoly to relative standards-based navigation back to a browser
monopoly means consumers are fucking morons.

Bring in a competent regulator, please. And a baseball bat with some
nails embedded in it, and a gallon of gasoline and a match.

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[Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2019-03-11 21:00 +0000
  Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2019-03-11 22:29 +0000
    Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) - 2019-03-11 23:44 -0500
      Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2019-03-12 07:08 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2019-03-12 07:10 +0000
          Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2019-03-12 18:43 +0000
      Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2019-03-12 11:37 +0000
        Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2019-03-12 22:08 +0000
          Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-03-13 08:37 -0400
  Re: [Link Posting] Microsoft's new Skype for Web client: An early taste of the browser monoculture RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-03-11 20:34 -0400

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