The Chromium Era, and the New Shape of Browser Competition
When Microsoft Edge officially moved to Chromium in January 2020, it marked a significant shift in the browser landscape. On the surface, it looked like a blow to engine diversity—another competitor folding into Google's rendering engine. But viewed from another angle, the playing field may have just moved rather than disappeared.
Rather than engines themselves representing diversity, the forks built on top of them can now compete. Starting from a strong, shared foundation leaves room for innovation in areas that matter to users without touching web standards: better password managers, privacy features, clever bookmarking, reader modes, clean payment integrations, and even free VPNs built into the browser.
That's a path Opera took when it went Chromium—though it later shifted into less savory territory. The recent Mozilla layoffs aren't a disaster, but they don't hint at anything particularly promising either.
Open Source Changes the Equation
One important distinction: Microsoft's deprecated engines were not open source, while Chromium is. Even with Google holding the reins, open source allows outside participation—something that has already produced meaningful results, including CSS Grid. That openness offers a way in for external contributors that proprietary engines never did.
Raising the Bar of Unity
The collaborative model is changing in a more fundamental way. Separate browser makers—Google, Samsung, Microsoft—now work together not just on standards but also on implementation, sharing a single codebase. They are still competing, but the competition is no longer at the level of the rendering engine.
That unity comes with a cautionary note. We're effectively down to a two-party system, with one side holding a crushing majority. Checks and balances exist, but they're in peril.
An Unexpected Contender
Just as the industry mourns dying engines, a brand-new browser built entirely from scratch has surfaced: Flow. It's not open source, and you can't even download it yet. But it exists—a remarkable fact in itself, given how unlikely it seemed that anyone would seriously attempt to build a new engine from nothing.
The situation invites mixed feelings. It's reminiscent of the Walmart effect: years of frustration as big-box stores edged out local shops, changing the face of business entirely. Browsers have gone through the same consolidation, and while that isn't an excuse for questionable corporate behavior, it does suggest the dynamics at play are complicated—and exhausting to keep fighting.
