With Microsoft adopting Chromium instead of using their EdgeHTML rendering engine, web developers would now limit testing and support to Chrome. This would mean that certain web pages and features would be ‘exclusive’ to Google’s Chrome. Depending on where you stand on the topic, this might be good.

I personally use Google Chrome because it’s just easy. It’s connected with my phone and laptop so most of my things are in one place. The UI is simple and slick, and integration with my apps and other features. Plus I’ve been on Chrome for the longest time.

But to people who don’t use Chrome or Web Browsers that don’t support Chromium. You might feel differently. Other browsers which are excluded in the Chromium list are Mozzila Firefox, Apple’s Safari, etc. An example of this is Skype’s web client.

Being a part of Microsoft, Skype Web was updated to have HD video calling, call recording and other features. But the kicker was that it was only available on Microsoft Edge or Chrome. See below what happens when I tried to access it with Firefox.

This is all reminiscent of the time when web pages said that their site is “best viewed in Internet Explorer”. What people are failing to consider is that it makes the internet a less free, neutral place. If Google and Microsoft were to dominate the browser market, they could funnel content towards browsers only with Chromium supports. This essentially makes other browsers irrelevant and outdated.

But if you’re just a Chrome user like me, you won’t have much of an issue. But I do believe in a world where people are free to make their own decisions. If they wanted to use a certain browser, they should.