Google has announced that it is cutting off access to the Sync and “other Google Exclusive” APIs from all builds except Google Chrome.
[…] They’re not closing a security hole, they’re just requiring that everyone use Chrome.
Or to put it bluntly, they do not want you to access their Google API functionality without using proprietary software (Google Chrome). There is no good reason for Google to do this, other than to force people to use Chrome.
More info (Google’s shitty explanation/justification): https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chromium-packagers/c/SG6jnsP4pWM (Mirror)
Well, I mostly use Firefox. I just use Falkon (also Blink based) when Firefox fails on some corporate web pages where I work, and Chromium if nothing else helps. I’ve never used the sync features, and nothing special from Chromium, since I prefer to stick with Firefox.
So to me, the lack of chromium might be an issue on some corporate web pages. Perhaps by not being my main browser, I would think users might still find chromium useful without those features.
But now, 6 days after the discussion started on Arch, at least, it seems Arch is close to conclude Arch will drop Chromium, and proposing to get in talk with other major distros to encourage them do the same…
https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2021-January/030295.html https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2021-January/030296.html https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2021-January/030300.html
Looking at how the Arch thread is trending, Chromium most probably will get dropped from Arch. And I’m not sure about other distros, but the legal limbo seems something most distros would like to protect from.
I’d love to see this as an opportunity to increase the Firefox use base, gaining something against the google monopoly long term, but I’m afraid that’s not what will end up happening…
The pessimist in me thinks this will do more to get people to move from Chromium to Chrome, hence why Google is doing it.