The four major browser giants Microsoft, Apple, Google and Mozilla join forces to bridge the extension gap

To say who is most disappointed when the mobile Internet is booming, there is no doubt that the browser is definitely one of them. After all, when everyone is accustomed to using island-like apps, browsers, which used to be the core for users to connect to the Internet world, have also lost their dazzling light in the mobile Internet era. Of course, the PC is still a very important window, and billions of users access the Internet through browsers every day.

In order to keep browsers vital in the mobile Internet era, Apple, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft recently formed the WECG Alliance (WebExtensions Community Group) under the promotion of the World Wide Web Alliance and decided to develop a new universal standard for web extension functions. architecture. It is reported that the alliance will aim to simplify the development process of extended functions, introduce common models, functions, APIs and permission cores, and develop a common architecture that can improve performance, be more secure, and better prevent abuse.

Apple, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft own Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge respectively, the four most well-known browsers in the world. Their combination will undoubtedly shape the browser industry to some extent. standard. The purpose of the WECG Alliance is to prosper the browser ecosystem and allow more developers to develop the same extensions/plug-ins for different browsers under a unified architecture.

Plug-in refers to a component that extends kernel functions by calling Webkit kernel NPAPI. It works at the kernel level. In theory, any native binary program represented by C/C++ can be used. Language development, the most typical example of which is Flash player, which has already annoyed many users. Extension refers to a component that extends browser functions by calling the Chrome API provided by Chrome. It works at the browser level and is developed using HTML+Javascript. For example, the famous anti-advertising plug-in Adblock plus is one of them. payment.

In fact, browser extensions are like mini programs in WeChat. With the addition of third-party developers, colorful extensions can make browser functions more diverse and provide users with better Internet access. experience. With the support of plug-ins, users can implement many functions, such as removing ads, reading mode, automatic proxy, collection management, etc.

However, despite the outstanding role of browser plug-ins, the fact is that the browser ecosystem has shown a declining trend in recent years. Take the Google Chrome browser, which already occupies a monopoly, as an example. According to a survey released by ExtensionMonitor in the summer of 2019, which focuses on preventing browser extensions from leaking data, it was found that among all 188,620 extensions, only 13 were installed. Breaking through 10 million times, 87% of the extensions have been installed less than 1,000 times, while the paid extension IE Tab (which calls the IE core in Chrome) has been installed 4.1 million times, accounting for 31.5% of all paid extension installations.

The final result is that Google announced the ban on Chrome paid projects in September 2020, and announced the deactivation of the Chrome Web Store payment system in February this year. As the "big brother" Chrome is so difficult, let alone other browsers. The reason why such a problem occurs is because users don’t actually have many extension plug-ins. After all, users usually install the ad filter plug-in Adblock series, the translation plug-in Google Translate, the password management plug-in LastPass, the price comparison plug-in Avast SafePrice, and In addition to solving the problem of Chrome's memory usage The Great Suspender, it will not specifically install plug-ins for games, entertainment or more tools.

In addition to the fact that user demand is not that strong, what is even more fatal is the different kernels used by different browsers, which also makes the development difficulty for developers not low at all. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and a number of shell browsers in mainland China use the Chromium kernel, Apple Safari uses Webkit, Firefox uses Gecko, and IE, which was abandoned by Microsoft, uses Trident. Different kernels represent completely different technical routes. If a developer wants to develop his own plug-in on a mainstream browser, he needs to be familiar with the different rules of different platforms, which makes the learning cost very high.

How to guide consumer demand depends on developers. However, different technology stacks between different platforms lead to the loss of developers, which obviously also affects the overall market environment of browsers. Therefore, what the WECG Alliance needs to solve is this problem. According to the work charter and related work details published by the WECG Alliance on GitHub, its current goal is a common architecture, but each browser will still work independently with its own strategy at the same time, so each browser can still have its own technology, review and Editing strategies, and extensions created using this architecture will be available in these four different browsers at the same time.

Imagine if developers use a set of development tools to create extensions for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge at the same time, giving their products a chance to reach more consumers, especially after Apple just launched It will no doubt be an encouragement to developers when it is announced that extensions are coming to Safari on iOS and iPadOS. The previous failure of Windows 10 Mobile has actually told the industry that an ecosystem lacking developer support is unlikely to succeed, and staying with developers is the foundation of everything.

In fact, to a certain extent, the emergence of WECG is a compromise choice made by Apple and Google when promoting PWA (Progressive Web Applications) is unfavorable. Since the attempt to realize the full performance of APP on the web side has not been recognized by the market, it may be the top priority for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge to choose to stick to the existing position and allow the browser extension plug-in ecosystem to still exist under the impact of APP. , after all, the browser is an extremely important traffic entrance no matter what.

Recommended site searches: US server website, Korean server rental, vps server php space rental, Hengchuang host, Korean server rental, Yangzhou dual-line server, Mainland China registration-free host, US host recommendation, jsp host,