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protocols:smallweb:browser_monoculture

Browser Monoculture

The Problem

Chrome controls ~73% of global desktop browser market share. Add Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi) and the figure exceeds 80%. Mozilla's Gecko (Firefox) is the only viable independent rendering engine.

Developers test and build for Chrome only. Agriculture teaches us how dangerous monocultures are.

The Engine Breakdown

Engine Browser(s) Creator
Blink Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi Google
Gecko Firefox Mozilla
WebKit Safari Apple

Why It Matters

When one company controls the dominant rendering engine, they effectively control which web standards are implemented, which APIs exist, and what the web can do. Alternative protocols sidestep this entirely — they don't use browsers at all.

See Also

protocols/smallweb/browser_monoculture.txt · Last modified: by 127.0.0.1