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Comment by HenrikJoreteg | Hacker News Reader

Then by all means, don't use it.

The point is that Apple's policies don't allow other browsers to actually compete on their platform. So users don't get to make the choice. All browsers on iOS have to be WebKit based by explicit policy that's the issue at hand.

It sounds like you like the default choice, and that's great for you. But if it's truly better, they shouldn't be scared to allow users to make a difference choice for themselves, no?

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I think it‘s less about being truly better and more about who defines the standard.

If Chrom(ium) is going to win on Mobile, Google will basically dictate the W3C and that will end very badly. Id already ended very bad once, when IE was „The Standard“.

I agree with this analysis. I just wrote a comment in an a different thread(which links to a Twitter thread I wrote in response to the OP)[0] about it. Chromium becoming even more dominant on the web cannot be a good thing. It means handing over too much power over the web to a company, Google, that is not aligned with the interest of the open web.

Apple's tight control over browser engines on iOS seems like the lesser of two evils to me. My impression is also that Apple and Mozilla have been actings as checks on Google in W3C and other standardisation bodies e.g. John Wilander[1] from Apple/Webkit.

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27024457

1: https://twitter.com/johnwilander

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