> Most of Safari's unimplemented features are drafts pushed by the huge Google Chrome development team at light-speed and only Firefox tries to keep up with that. Microsoft threw the towel and forked Edgium, Opera stopped Presto and also forked, etc.
Exactly. I think it's fair to beat up the Safari team for not implementing actual web standards, but it's not fair to beat them up for not implementing every little whim of Google. The fact the development community is up in arms that Apple isn't following Google's lead shows that Google is the problem, not Apple.
If Apple were doing their own leading I'd be more interested in entertaining this biased, conservative view. To me, it should be obvious that we should have MIDI support on the web, that we should have robust sensor support, that we should have serial port and bluetooth support. Trying to belittle & insult Google for making a good web platform, saying that Google is a problem, is farcically doublespeak to me. I personally find it revolting that there's this modern hip attitude that it's cool & awesome that someone is blocking features, is preventing growth.
But the thing is, I'm fine with Apple being Apple. If you want to stay on Safari, if you think lacking a bunch of features is cool, if you are like, yeah, I want webworker support to take 2 years longer than everyone else, I'm happy for you, go for it. If you want a browser that doesn't participate in call to implements, go you I guess.
What I'm not cool with is a platform that refuses to allow anyone else on that platform to browse the modern internet. Apple definitely for sure 100% is leveraging colossal & vast market power to hold back & prevent a better web from emerging, is preventing their consumers from having access to a capable web platform. I'm ok with Safari being, imo, a deliberately defective product, but I'm not ok with amazing devices being locked to this radically deliberately maimed version of the web, that is full of bugs, that is perpetually multiple years behind.
I'm calling out Google for their refusal to work with standards bodies. They don't want to do the hard work it takes to create standards (sometimes they reject your proposals). So they use their market power to cram what they create down our throats. I'm not down with that - especially on a platform such as the web which has historically been based on open standards, open standards which made the web so successful in the first place.
specs go through open processes on their way to standardization. this hasnt changed. there are groups like TAG that review each spec.
really distressing but I think this kind of sad inchoate rage is ultra popular these days. you should thank google for working so hard so diligently to improve the web. google wins by having a healthy, well adopted, competent web. they're not forcing anything on anyone.
> To me, it should be obvious that we should have MIDI support on the web, that we should have robust sensor support, that we should have serial port and bluetooth support.
Why should it be obvious? I want none of those things in my web browser.
Exactly. I think it's fair to beat up the Safari team for not implementing actual web standards, but it's not fair to beat them up for not implementing every little whim of Google. The fact the development community is up in arms that Apple isn't following Google's lead shows that Google is the problem, not Apple.