Tragedy of the WebKit Commons

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by hayksaakian on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @10:59PM (#5217619)

He touched on something that few will appreciate.

UIWebView, (and android's webview) is on older implementations of webkit, and the gatekeepers of modern apps (Google included) have incentive to keep it that way.

They want devs to build apps for their own 'ecosystem' that are not interoperable on all platforms (eg: the web). They have disincentive to push for adoption of newer versions of browser tech as it encroaches on their respective babies (the OS').

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by eridius on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:18PM (#5217689)

No it's not. Both you and the original article author are astoundingly wrong here (with regards to UIWebView; I don't know anything about android). I don't even know where you got the idea that it's somehow older.

UIWebView is precisely the same WebKit that powers MobileSafari, which is typically kept in sync with WebKit for the corresponding OS X release (so iOS 6.0 and Mac OS X 10.8 have roughly equivalent WebKits).

Pretty much the only difference between UIWebView and MobileSafari is the fact that MobileSafari runs JavaScript faster (by virtue of being allowed to mprotect pages, which almost no other app on the system, including 3rd-party apps, are allowed to do). But aside from a speed difference in JS execution, UIWebView is the same WebKit that's used in MobileSafari.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by MatthewPhillips on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:22PM (#5217703)

Mobile Safari is only updated once a year.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by eridius on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:27PM (#5217725)

Which is a very different thing to say than "UIWebView is an older implementation". Especially when you're talking about removing something from jQuery that was meant for older versions of WebKit only to have to put it back when you discover that, shockingly, there exist browsers out there that aren't on the bleeding edge of WebKit!

Not everybody runs Chrome.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by lukeman on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:26PM (#5217716)

Nope, it's usually updated with every single minor and security release as well.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by MatthewPhillips on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:33PM (#5217748)

Only receives new features once a year. Safari (mobile or desktop) isn't exactly a model for rapid releases. It's missing a lot of stuff that Chrome has had for months, sometimes years.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by bdash on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:18PM (#5217690)

I'm not sure what you mean by UIWebView being an "older implementation of webkit". UIWebView uses the same version of WebKit as Safari on iOS, which is essentially the same version of WebKit as is shipped with Safari on OS X.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by lukeman on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:29PM (#5217736)

Right, the difference is Mobile Safari and home screen web apps use the Nitro engine while UIWebView still uses JavaScriptCore IIRC.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by bdash on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:32PM (#5217745)

Nitro is Apple's marketing name for JavaScriptCore, so UIWebView and Safari both make use of Nitro. The difference you're thinking of is whether a JIT compiler is used. That difference has nothing to do with the age of the version of WebKit used in UIWebView vs Safari.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tragedy of the WebKit Commons by hayksaakian on Wednesday February 13, 2013 @11:28PM (#5217732)

For android webkit versions I'm using: http://jimbergman.net/webkit-version-in-android-version/

and iOS and the rest: http://www.quirksmode.org/webkit_mobile.html

and good luck actually finding a sold version history of webkit on iOS, 30 minutes of googling have led me nowhere.

[ Parent | on HN ]