A case for browser-engine diversity in a decreasingly diverse browser-engine world + State of web privacy.

Chrome Trust and Safety Summit, November 14, 2019

Tanvi Vyas and Mike Taylor, Mozilla

A case for browser-engine diversity in a decreasingly diverse browser-engine world + State of web privacy.

HELLO MY NAME
IS @miketaylr

What are we going to talk about today?

  1. An early history of browser engines
  2. A more recent history of browser engines
  3. I will convince you I'm right
    (about why browser engine monoculture is not good for the web,
    or for users)
  4. State of privacy on the web
  5. Firefox Privacy Protections

Nexus (née WorldWideWeb)

Mosaic

<aside>

khtml

khtml < khtmlw (KDE HTML Widget)

khtml == kool desktop environment html

</aside>

2011

so, why don't we all just use blink?

so, why don't we all just use blink gecko?

🙋 it kinda makes my job harder?

does the web platform really
benefit from diversity?

a couple of examples

1. API design

intrinsicsize

                    <img intrinsicsize="400x300">
                     
                    img, video {
                        aspect-ratio: attr(width) / attr(height);
                    }

something about embedding engines and apples policy about webkit

2. embeddable browser engines

3. Privacy

3. Privacy — put a pin in this.

OK, but what really motivates browser vendors
(and their vision for the web?)

apple

google

mozilla

these differences result in a push and pull, which is sometimes slow, but v1 of a proposal is rarely better than v2

wow mike, you convinced me

what can i do???

Design backwards compatible APIs to abstract browser differences, write WPTs to ensure interop

And now back to Privacy with Tanvi