[datashovel]

A great example of why I think the entire core ecosystem of the web is backwards.

I've had a number of comments here on HN related to this. Imagine this same scenario, except instead of the User being in charge of deciding which engine is used to render a website / webapp, the Developer is making that choice. What would a developer need to do if they were in control of which "engine" rendered their website on the user's computer?

Instead of being at the mercy of Google / Chrome, the developer of said site could simply change their HTTP Header "X-BrowserEngine" or something like this, and the client's computer would know how to (a) download the new engine if it's not on the computer already (b) sandbox the new engine (c) run the site / app in said engine.

I've called this idea the "Meta Browser" in the past. It's a concept for an app that sandboxes and runs sites on different browser engines seamlessly. The user experience is more or less as though they're continuing to use a single app to browse the web, but behind the scenes could be any number of custom engines rendering the content.