Re:uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
by opan on Monday March 10, 2025 @07:03PM
(#43327154)
>Did Google have to open Chromium? No.
Google did not make Chromium from scratch, and so were obligated to use a license compatible with the previous source they used. That source can be traced back to KDE's Konqueror browser and its KHTML engine.
Re:uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
by jpc0 on Tuesday March 11, 2025 @04:08AM
(#43330263)
Your argument is that Google couldn't possibly have written their own web engine and browser at a time when Firefox and IE were the alternative options?
Re:uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
by opan on Tuesday March 11, 2025 @07:01PM
(#43338049)
I'm simply saying that they didn't, and thus they did have to "open" it, or rather keep it "open".
Re:uBlock Origin is no longer available on the Chrome Store
by jpc0 on Wednesday March 12, 2025 @11:31AM
(#43344309)
I would argue they didn't have to "open" it at all, they could have just built up from scratch.
However they chose to do it in the open, side benefit they also got to use a ton of preexisting code.
For one, they simply have had a better product, at least in the past. Part of their large monopoly is due to just being better outright for a large portion of users (presumably). Are we to punish making overly-good products?
For another, sell to whom? And why would they be a good steward?
And yet another, there's literally Chromium, which other browsers (built by other corps) use, e.g. Edge, Brave, etc.
Did Google have to open Chromium? No.
Disclaimer: I hold these opinions weakly and would love to learn more about why they might be ill-premised.