Mozilla CEO shares concern over Microsoft shutting down EdgeHTML

While Microsoft Edge is far from being a popular browser (market share is at 4.34 percent according to NetMarketShare), the idea that Microsoft plans to give it up to use Google’s Chromium rendering engine isn’t sitting well with its competition. The move signals a homogenization of the browsing market, which is a valid concern but something we’re dealing with as we speak. Mozilla, the non-profit behind the Firefox browser, expressed its concern through a post from its CEO Chris Beard. The non-profit acknowledges the move makes business sense but it doesn’t like the idea that this move empowers Google to “single-handedly decide what possibilities are available to each one of us.”

Beard writes, “From a social, civic and individual empowerment perspective ceding control of fundamental online infrastructure to a single company is terrible. We compete with Google not because it’s a good business opportunity. We compete with Google because the health of the internet and online life depend on competition and choice. They depend on consumers being able to decide we want something better and to take action.”

He expresses concern that things could become difficult for Mozilla. With Chromium powering most of the browsers, it might dissuade developers from developing for other browsers and with it users will stop using its browser.

Beard closes out his post by imploring users to give Firefox a try, saying it is “radically better than it was 18 months ago.” We’ve definitely seen that improvement and we’re definitely here for having more options to use when we want to browse the web.

Source: TNW