Google Forking WebKit to Create New Web Rendering Engine for Chrome

[Bokito]

Chrome (and thus Blink) supports the HTML5 standards better than Safari.

Just look at http://html5test.com/results/desktop.html

Chrome 26: 468/500
Safari 6.0.3: 378/500

Maxthon (the winning browser 476/500) is likely to switch to Blink as well - it's based on Chromium.

This doesn't say anything about correct support. Chrome supports more HTML5 functions, but it doesn't say they are all correctly implemented. Apple is holding off with a lot of the implementations because they're either not stable or the specification isn't clear on how to handle things exactly. This only confirms that Google is using code after very limited testing. Apple waits a whole lot longer.

General opinion

For web developers this can be good and bad news. In the last 2 years or so Google has been making changes for their internal WebKit builds that are part of Chrome. Breaking some websites that work good in other WebKit based browsers. As Google left the WebKit house it may make it's own changes to their engine that make it look like the new IE 6. It's also easier for Google to optimize the browser for their own services and downgrade the performance on other companies' services.

On the other hand WebKit got a little bloated in recent years and that not only slowed development down quite a bit, it also let to many problems with memory consumption. A lot of the bloat comes from the hands of Google. Most of the core work is being done by Apple and I hope they can keep a focus on those things. The companies using a WebKit port will have to look out more for themselves now or join Blink.

Apple also pulled away quite a few key-engineers from the project to work on other things. Apple has been using WebKit as a recruiter tool for new developers since the project went open source, but so far that didn't bring the project the force it had when it was first released as part of Safari 1.0. I don't think Apple will be able to fill the void left by the Google engineers soon as Apple is on an engineer shortage, partially because an office space shortage.

 

[maxosx]

I wonder are they going to do sneaky stuff like put in trackers etc.

If you're concerned, there's an excellent solution:

www.duckduckgo.com

No tracking, brilliant resources, see bottom of page, in addition to great searches.

 

[iglobe]

Fact

My point is that Google will go their own way for certain functionalities and their is no guarantees that they will be for web standards (like HTML 5 is today).

Apple will release html 5 based development tool,just like old flash based development tools..

 

[mikeekim]

As a professional web designer, this is the worst news I've heard in years.

 

[selva]

What the FORK?

 

[ksgant]

Everything you do. Do a google search on some obscure topic like a medical condition. Then check you email in a few hours or some times a day or two and you will get a very specific email related in some way to your search in most cases. I have seen this happen in my non gmail account and it is disturbing.

Yeah, that's a big pile of BS. I do google searches all the time and this NEVER happens. I'm curious though, why would you even write that as it's so easily debunked. I mean, it's like stupid-easy to debunk that nonsense. Just to troll?

But I guess if you're going to make up stuff to condemn Google and push whatever conspiracy agenda forward, shoot for the moon!

 

[samcraig]

Everything you do. Do a google search on some obscure topic like a medical condition. Then check you email in a few hours or some times a day or two and you will get a very specific email related in some way to your search in most cases. I have seen this happen in my non gmail account and it is disturbing.

You are failing to prove anything that asserts that Google sells your personal data. They don't. An advertiser may ask for placement to 24-40 year old males who have searched for X - but that doesn't mean the advertiser AT ANY TIME has your information. Google doesn't SELL or RENT your information.

People can try and redefine personal, sell, rent, etc - but that doesn't change the facts.

And as others have said - this is no different than any other company that sells advertising.

So much FUD being spread over and over. Just become some people on here repeat it over and over doesn't make it true.

 

[Jayomat]

Amen. I use them all too. Chrome on Mac and windows can get a little resource-heavy, so occasionally I switch to Safari.

It does, but I have 12GB RAM on my windows machine (which is mainly used for development and games), so there is no issue here. On my 2,1 Macbook it does get a bit rough with only 3GB max, but it works reasonably well, even when I have eclipse (localhost), webstorm and chrome running (though only with 1-2 tabs most of the time)

 

[walie]

So Oracle is siding with google, announcing that opera will trade in webkit for blink: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/...-blink-as-part-of-its-commitment-to-chromium/

Maybe, Apple should follow suit and go with Blink. I mean, if anyone can make a rendering engine following all the web standards it's google. And it would free up some resources to focus on things like icloud, maps etc.

Thoughts?

My first thought is perhaps you should read the article you link to....

 

[newagemac]

Just pointing out, this is exactly what Apple thrives on. Airplay, lightning cable, etc.

The difference is Apple does proprietary things for stuff involving their own proprietary products. Apple believes native operating systems and devices should not be open source or loosely controlled for security reasons and the ability to create better experiences for end users like iOS apps, OS X, and Windows compared to Linux, most web apps, and the fragmented problems of Android for users.

However, they believe the web should be fully open and based on commonly agreed upon standards. The web is for the full freedom (with all its positives and negatives) you might need even on locked down devices.

This way you have the best of both worlds. I happen to agree with Apple's philosophy. It makes a whole lot of sense.

 

[the8thark]

(What's Google's default setting for Do Not Track?)

The don't download and don't use chrome option?

 

[AdonisSMU]

Opera is adopting Blink not Webkit it seems.

http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2013/hello-blink/

Opera should just get out of the business altogether. It would have the same result.

 

[samcraig]

Google is an advertising company. It's their business. That's how they make money. When was the last time you trusted an advertising agency in telling you the truth? Why would they care about you?

Google parses Gmail accounts. Says who they don't parse the data for your name? Hi Jim, how are you... Dear Mr. Johns, thank you for....

Now maybe Google doesn't sell your name to its many advertiser clients, right now, but they surely have that info and they surely know who you are. Who long do you give them to keep that information to themselves? It's a business, hint hint.

Hint hint - Amazon, Apple, Target, Supermarkets, your cable company, and lots of companies collect data about you and have the same access/purchase history/etc in their databases. It's as likely (or rather unlikely) they would jeopardize their entire business by selling PERSONAL data.

But you can live in fear. Just be sure that when you live in fear - you live in fear of every company. Not just the one you search with or have your email account with.

I meant the default for tracking policies, cookies, is "never track". So much so that Google had to circumvent that policy to continue tracking you.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/us-europe-investigate-googles-bypass-of-safari-privacy-settings/



Read my above post. Read the above link about Google's tracking Safari users who don't want to be tracked.

Honestly, it comes down to trust. Do you trust them?

You're funny. You either ignored his post or don't care. Either way your response seems silly (to me at least) since he clearly stated, "or come back with the same 1 liner about the Safari exploit, which was clearly an isolated incident involving a dodgy developer at Google, and some poor security on Apples part."

Congratulations. You did exactly what he predicted even AFTER he "warned" you

 

[flottenheimer]

Doh! I really want Apple and Google to work together on as much stuff as possible. I love both companies — and rely on their products. I do not want them to drift any further apart.
Hmmm.

Well, the only positive thing that might come from this could be a 64-bit osx version of Chrome.

 

[the8thark]

Not can be misleading. Is misleading. The whole quality over quantity issue exists here. And many people seem to miss this. Less commits but better quality code in each one could make both google and Apple on par here. But we really just don't know. Will webkit hurt from google's defection? Probably yes. But I don't think it's the end of the world. As long as Apple don't forget it and keep it up to date so all the required features are integrated in with Safari everyone is happy. And others who also use webkit will be happy too.

 

[Premium1]

If the integration means addition of non-standard components, no thanks.

so sort of like what apple does with their connectors, etc?

 

[the8thark]

...where's that report button...

. . . where's that downvote button . . . .

Seriously people can post what my quote is referring to. Upvote it to all hell and we can't downvote to equalise this. Post voting should be removed entirely.

 

[samcraig]

Your biases in the above comments are glowing red hot, unfortunately. Care to elaborate on exactly what "issues" you had with Safari and why iTunes is a "hot mess"?

On my flip side, Safari has been my favorite and preferred browser since the day it was first released. As a website developer, I've had more success with it than other browsers (that's the truth), but I won't say that it's been perfect at everything. And iTunes 11 is a great rebuild that breathed new life into an aging application.

My biases? You mean my bias towards browsers that function the way I need them to and also don't crash/lock up with more than a few tabs. Then yes - I am completely biased. My personal experience with Safari is that it has been the least stable browser I've used - from locking up to flat out crashing. And as for compatibility with a lot of sites *I* frequent - it doesn't render 100% correctly. Now is this the fault of the web designer/company - most likely. But that doesn't endear me to using a browser which won't work on the sites I need to. YMMV.

iTunes, while it has been enhanced - is still a lot of bloat/memory resource hog. Again - my experience.

 

[iGrip]

So it looks like WebKit is going the same direction as Quicktime - total obscurity.

 

[the8thark]

But none of this data is tied to your name, address, or even your Google account. You're seen as a semi random point, who happens to visit atheism and pro choice sites.

This gives them data showing that people who frequent atheism sites also frequent pro choice sites. Which in turns means the next atheist site you visit, might just have a pro choice ad plastered somewhere on it.

But you? Google doesn't know who you are.

On the outside no. But I have seen a TV show where one guy did a week's worth of searches (as he normally does) and then they took this "non personal data" as you call it, collated it all and worked out his address. And from that worked out who it was. Sure all of that took a lot of effort and you need to be one of the people that info is shared to. But the fact is, it's doable.

This is exactly why I am unhappy with this kind of info being sold. It IS very personal indeed.

 

[brian.gillespie]

You've heard the old saying...

You've heard the saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." It's time for the Google axiom, "You can't beat 'em if you join 'em."

 

[waldobushman]

Blink has to be open source because it is forked from an open source project which is also in turn forked from another open source project.

Honestly, I haven't seen this many tinfoil hat wearers other than on certain YouTube videos.

Not true!

 

[the8thark]

Safari is the most clean browser around. It doesn't phone home, it has a straightforward privacy policy, and creates the most compliant renders. Web programmers never have to adjust to Safari's quirkiness because virtually there isn't any.

How some people trust an advertising company like Google with their online privacy is beyond me. Every day you hear stories of their often low and despicable tactics... "Don't be evil", are you kidding me?

And to all the people who claim it cannot handle many tabs opened, when was the last time you checked Safari, 2007???

You sir get it. Thank you. This is exactly why I don't use Chrome. I am willing to try it out on a different computer, different IP with stuff I never usually search for stuff not typical of my age bracket to search for. Just to see how good Chrome is these days. But at home downloading and using chrome today? Not a chance in heaven or hell.
Proof of this data stealing (just two examples of many)
http://www.praguepost.com/business/4531-google-under-investigation-for-stealing-private-data.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...te-googles-bypass-of-safari-privacy-settings/
I just did a bing search and those were the top results.

And about the tabs issue in Safari. I often have around 10 tabs open. (One time I had like 30 tabs open, sure that maxed out the ram usage but no crash) And I've never had a tab related crash in safari. The only crashes I have had in safari are the few very rare random websites that don't like safari. But firefox or opera or camino, one of those works. So I'd call the safari tab issue - non existant.

So again thank you to the person I quoted. You speak the truth. And are not afraid to say it.

Honestly, it comes down to trust. Do you trust them?

I don't. And everyone else should not either.

 

[yg17]

All the people complaining about fragmentation and web standards....really? Are you guys actually web developers? I am. I work on a complex web application at my job. Our app has to work in IE (IE7 and IE8, ugh), Firefox and Chrome. IE is the one that always needs special treatment. Over the years, I've found that if it works in Firefox, it works in Chrome. I can think of one instance where something worked in IE and Firefox and not Chrome, and one line of CSS fixed it.

Gecko and WebKit may be different rendering engines, but they both follow standards which makes coding for them a breeze. I'm not worried at all about a fork of WebKit. As long as it follows standards, which would obviously be in Google's best interests, as a web developer, I'm not worried.

 

[samcraig]

This is exactly why I am unhappy with this kind of info being sold. It IS very personal indeed.

But again - it's NOT being sold The advertiser doesn't get any of the information you're so concerned with. The advertiser gives Google a demographic and their ad. Google serves it to users.

Please explain how YOUR INFORMATION is SOLD to a 3rd PARTY.

The ONLY company that has the information during the transaction is Google.