That comparison has always been nonsense. People can't keep pretending like ActiveX was the same thing as, say, WebMIDI, or that stuff like WebMIDI is Chrome's "moat". Chrome simply has superior, less buggy support for basic, uncontroversial web APIs, the kind that every browser maker agrees on. Look at the massive gap in Interop 2025, possibly the most conservative Interop yet (due to Apple's constant behind-the-scenes vetoing). It's not magic. Google invests more in their browser, and the Chromium codebase attract more contributions from a wider variety of companies. And Firefox has exponentially fewer issues than Safari anyway (which is deliberate, Apple wants to cripple the web and favor its App Store monopoly).
> Apple wants to cripple the web and favor its App Store monopoly
While I agree that this is probably true at the BOD level, the people working on the browser itself go in the opposite direction. They spend a lot of effort trying to actually develop a robust standard. Jen Simmons has been kicking ass since she went to work on Safari and I'm here for it. If she leaves or is forced out, I will be much more skeptical about the pushback offered by Apple.
The Interop 20XX projects are a great first start and I'm hopefully that feature parity will continue to increase over the next few years.
I like the work and advocacy of Jen Simmons too, but without the large infusion of cash (on the order of $20B) from Google, why wouldn't Apple downsize the Safari team and force her out?
I worry about the jobs of all browser devs in fact. The pace of innovation in web and browser technologies will significantly slow down. All browser teams are likely to be downsized.
