It has now emerged that after being informed that Safari was likely to fall under the DMA’s regulations, Apple filed formal a response to the European Union claiming that Safari is, in fact, “three distinct web browsers.” The company’s claim is based on the argument that Safari for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS are entirely different and serve different purposes.
On example cited by Apple is Safari’s sidebar feature on iPadOS and macOS, allowing users to see opened tabs, tab groups, bookmarks, and browsing history. Since this feature is unavailable in the version of Safari for iOS, Apple claimed that it is a distinctly different browser. The company added that each version of Safari serves different purposes for users depending on the device upon which it is accessed.
The European Commission went on to point out that Safari’s functionality and underlying technologies are near-identical across platforms. The Commission even highlights Apple’s own marketing materials for its Continuity feature, which appear to contradict the company’s claims, touting the tag line “Same Safari. Different device.” As a result, the Commission rejected Apple’s claim and insists that “Safari qualifies as a single web browser, irrespective of the device through which that service is accessed.”
Although G Chrome and Edge are very close to Chromium, Chromium is the base of such a diverse set of software.
You don’t call an Electron app a Chromium, do you? Qt also offers Chromium as a widget, where you can basically do whatever you want. This is why just using Chromium as the base doesn’t qualify as the same browser for me. That’s like mistaking the engine as the browser.
These are all just repacked websites. Its just a browser for a web service. It’s also an issue as you no longer get to choose the browser you use.
The web engine isn’t the same as a car engine. Web engines define how the road is built, it’s direction, it’s speed and it’s destination. Leaving this up to Google or apple is bad news for everyone. Just like it was bad to leave it up to Microsoft with internet explorer.
A big problem is how chrome has been masked to appear as different browsers and services. Even desktop app like you mention, as well as web views for android apps all running on chromium where you like it or not.