Re:Apple is not defending browser engine choice
by RobertRoberts on Friday June 24, 2022 @02:41PM
(#31867436)
If the one key feature in an iOS webapp _kills_ your business, then _yes_ iOS/Safari is magnitudes worse than IE ever was.
The expectations and businesses relying on browser functionality back then is minimal compared to today which amplifies the core issues at hand.
Try building an PWA with offline capabilities (trivial in modern browsers) that's your core of your business, and you will see what I see. Apple is _trying_ to strangle non-app store apps. Where IE was just a dumb lumbering problem by comparison.
Re:Apple is not defending browser engine choice
by lelandfe on Friday June 24, 2022 @03:04PM
(#31867783)
> Try building an PWA with offline capabilities
I have, for one of the world's largest companies. You're missing the forest for the trees if you feel PWAs are this much of a linchpin to the broader conversation.
Re:Apple is not defending browser engine choice
by RobertRoberts on Friday June 24, 2022 @03:19PM
(#31868026)
The only programmers that had issues with IE were when IE broke something they needed, it hardly matters what it was. Apples to apples comparisons are the relevant issue.
So if your PWA works on iOS/Safari, great for you, but it doesn't mean everyone's does.
OS lock-in and slow adoption of new web features is perhaps lame but Safari doesn't have anything even approaching it's own box model, or `-ms-filter` equivalent, or quirks mode... the list approaches infinity.
Also, "install something else?" Do you know what the browser landscape looked like back then? IE had >80% dominance for years, and your other option was Netscape, which lacked huge swaths of custom features in IE.