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On March 15, 2021, Google will limit access to many Chrome application programming interfaces (APIs) within the open source Chromium web browser. Google is doing this because “third-party Chromium-based browsers that integrate Google’s cloud-based features, such as Chrome sync and Click to Call, were intended for Google Chrome users only.”
In other words, “this meant that a small fraction of users were able to log into their Google account and store their personal Chrome sync data, such as bookmarks, not only with Google Chrome, but also with some third-party based browsers. In Chromium “.
Google has a perfect right to do this. It is your web browser. Yes, Chromium is open source, but if you are using its APIs to access its services, Google has the final say. But should Google be the only one to decide?
Google’s move made many Linux distribution Chromium developers and maintainers miserable. As Red Hat community Linux distribution Fedora, Chromium maintainer Tom Callaway tweeted, with Google “cutting off access to Sync and” other Google exclusive APIs “from all builds except Google Chrome. This will do Fedora Chromium build significantly less functional (along with any other packaged Chromium distributions) “.
However, Fedora will continue to ship Chromium. However, other Linux distributors have had enough. Eric Hameleers, who maintains Chromium for Slackware Linux, gets rid of Chromium. “I will not package or distribute a Chromium for Slackware if that package is affected by no Chrome Sync login,” he said.
So what’s the problem since, let’s be honest, there are probably less than a million Linux Chromium users compared to the almost 3 billion Chrome PC users or even the approximately 220 million Firefox users? The problem is that restricting how Chromium can be used is a much bigger issue affecting more than just Linux programmers and users.
What do i mean? Can you tell me what Vivaldi, Opera, Brave, and Microsoft Edge have in common? Each and every one is based on the Chromium source code. With the exception of Firefox, there are no major non-Chromium PC web browsers left. It’s true that Safari on iPhones and iPads is not a member of the Chromium family, but even on Mac, where Safari is also built in, a third of Mac owners use Chrome.
In terms of market share, the US federal government’s Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which keeps a running count of the last 90 days of visits to the US government website. And is the best Guide to the Popularity of Web Browsers, indicated that as of the end of January, 90% of all PC and Mac web browsers were using Chrome or a Chromium-based web browser.
The last time we had a browser that completely dominated the market share was in 2002, when Internet Explorer (IE) dominated the Internet world with a 96% market share. In case you weren’t around yet or have forgotten, years earlier in 1998, the Department of Justice (DoJ) sued Microsoft for bundling IE with Windows 95 in its successful effort to take down the other great browser of the day. Netscape. In theory, he won the DoJ. In practice, well, when was the last time you used Netscape?
Now, Google isn’t using Chromium and Chrome to force people to buy Chromebooks like Microsoft did with IE and Windows PCs in their Evil Empire days. But, as Linux developers have just discovered to their dismay, whatever Google wants to do with Chromium, Google can do it and it doesn’t matter what anyone else wants.
This is not how open source is supposed to work. I think it’s time for all Chromium developers to have a serious conversation with Google. The vast majority of open source projects do not have a single company that makes all the decisions. Why should Chromium?
That’s especially true when you consider how dominant Chromium is in the world of web browsers. You could even argue that Chromium is the world’s largest open source end-user program. Think about it. With 90% control of the browser market, it’s not just about people “using” the web. No, it’s 90% of people who buy products from Amazon; working at their jobs using Microsoft 365; running your line of business programs like Salesforce, and so on.
Time to think about removing Chromium from Google’s control and handing it over to a neutral third-party foundation. If Google doesn’t want to agree with this idea, that’s fine. Chrome fork. It won’t be the first or the last time a superior open source program has forked.
Yes, the problem here is not the code itself. It is with the rules that Google has applied to its APIs. We just saw how those service APIs have locked developers in a world where Google makes all the decisions.
It is not easy to replace those functionalities of the API service. Ask the developers behind the operating system and Android / e / OS smartphones without Google. But, it can be done, and could be done much more easily through a community foundation with or without the help of Google.
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