[hyperhopper]

Web browsers that are so complex a person in their basement can't implement them are a sickness.

We've gone too far. Give us back html homepages and executables you can run if you'd like something crazier

[chii]

But why isn't the same logic applied to an operating system then?

I dont think a browser being more complex than a person can grasp is an important aspect/problem that needs rectifying.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

If we had as many browsers as OSs - somewhat interoperable but genuinely independent - then I would feel much better about the web. Compare NT/Darwin/*+Linux/(Net|Free|Open|Dragonfly)BSD/illumos (to say nothing of the long tail; you can in fact use Haiku for a lot) against Gecko/Blink/WebKit.

[swiftcoder]

> why isn't the same logic applied to an operating system then?

It absolutely should be. And arguably, is - there are multiple tiny OS projects that are somewhat useable

[Apocryphon]

That logic is applied to operating systems, that's why SerenityOS has garnered so much interest.

[codr7]

Having more options would certainly be nice, and the barrier to entry these days is pretty high.

[DecoySalamander]

If I had to make a guess, you, as a person, can't implement an OS, personal computer, or any other appliance in your home. Maybe you can do the wiring or manage to dig out the basement itself. Not sure why browsers specifically draw your ire.

[hilbert42]

"We've gone too far. Give us back html"

Absolutely! Looking at this objectively, most of the web and browser developments over the last two decades have been for the benefit of Big Tech and business—not typical web users.

These developments have been forced on users to allow that mob to sell us more stuff, confine what we do, and spy on us and collect our statistics etc. Moreover, complicated web browsers provide a larger surface/more opportunites for attack.

Everything I want to do on the Web I could do with a browser from the early 2000s.

I mostly run my browsers without JavaScript. That kills most ads and makes pages load so much faster (as pages are much, much smaller). Without JavaScript I often see a single webpage drop from over 7MB down to around 100kB.

7MB-plus for a webpage is fucking outrageous, why the hell do we users put up with this shit?

It seems to me if all that Google infrastructure were to be busted up and browsers went their own way then the changes in the browser ecosystem would eventually force lower common denominator standards (more basic APIs, back to HTML, etc.).

With simper web tech being the only guaranteed way of communicating with all Web uses this would force the sleazeballs and purveyors of crap and bad behavior to behave more openly and responsibly. Also, users would be able to mount better defenses against the remaining crap.

In short, the market would be less accessible unless they reverted to lower tech/LCD web standards, and that'd be a damn good thing for the average web user.

[concinds]

> 7MB-plus for a webpage is fucking outrageous, why the hell do we users put up with this shit?

That's mostly due to insane web "frameworks" like React, and developers who (systematically) overuse and misuse them, and then test their websites on WiFi/5G and iPhones with superfast chips so they don't notice (their users do). The solution is to increase the capabilities of "native" Javascript and CSS, and put in massive effort into interoperability so web devs stop feeling the need for frameworks as "compatibility shims" (looking at you, IE and Safari). Those solutions are exactly what browser makers (sans Apple) have been focusing on lately.

The solution you recommend would have the exact opposite effect of what you intend.