I remember some Eurorack module used Web MIDI in it's configuration app. It wasn't a pleasant experience back then.
Apple removing it is weird considering the platform prevalence with musicians...
Apple removing it is weird considering the platform prevalence with musicians...
So far, it's working. Chromebooks have not taken over the world.
They're also often exceptional deals for the low end of laptops (sub 200 dollar range) because Windows and its bloat make those laptops even worse to use. I'd never recommend any laptop that cheap unless someone has no meaningful way to save up, but this segment is very much still alive.
Honestly, I'm surprised the unification of smartphone and laptop hasn't reached those circles yet. A mid range phone and a cheap laptop shell that you can slide the phone into are a much better deal than a cheap laptop and a cheap phone. Samsung's DeX, for example, is fully competitive with ChromeOS and even most basic Windows use cases.
Also, fingerprinting is easy to avoid here. Firefox leaves MIDI off entirely until you opt-in to avoid random websites picking it up. Safari could do the same, presumably.
Firmware over midi was not uncommon for older equipment because the alternative was swapping out EPROMs if the instrument did not have an FD drive…and around Y2K, unavailability of older chips could mean replacing sockets or going without (so mostly going without).
That is definitely an issue with the device, but I don’t know how common or uncommon that is for much older equipment
I feel like they’re just using fingerprinting as an excuse to not implement functionality that people want. Of course, I don’t really understand the problem space, so it’s likely I’m missing something.
Do you actually believe this? Do you not default to more practical explinations like, maybe they don't consider it worthwhile to support because of engineering cost vs people that actually use it?
For example, I'd say 9/10 people I know who aren't tech literate have no idea the Health app exists on their iPhone. This includes people with Apple watches. Similarly it should be obvious that basically nobody ever knew about or used that one feature you liked.
When I said "functionality that people want", I didn't mean to imply that there was a critical mass of people that made MIDI support in a browser obviously worthwhile, I just meant that some people want it and they're being told it won't happen because of fingerprinting.
Nobody wants a web browser that "chooses" not to work on some % of websites. Users choose, browsers implement. They are welcome to gate this feature behind a per-site permission prompt if they think it's insecure.
i don't understand how this is a fingerprinting risk either, and i'm pretty sure i'm not missing anything.
...Well, I guess I was about to answer my own question there. Never change, Apple. Never change.