Arina<p>It's funny and kinda frustrating how almost no one acknowledges the role <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/KDE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KDE</span></a> played in forming the Web we see today.</p><p>It's KDE who created <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/KHTML" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KHTML</span></a>, which was then in 2001 forked by Apple to create their <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/WebKit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>WebKit</span></a> engine, and which was then used in <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Chromium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chromium</span></a> until version 28, when Google replaced WebKit with their own fork of it called <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Blink" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Blink</span></a>.</p><p>And the only reason Apple forked KHTML and not <a href="https://hachyderm.io/tags/Gecko" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Gecko</span></a> was because of Netscape's extensive and, as later admitted by Mozilla themselves,[1] often unnecessary usage of XUL/XPCOM, which Apple thought resulted in software bloat.[2]</p><p>So yes, almost every browser currenty existing uses an engine which is a direct or indirect descendant of KDE's KHTML.</p><p>And I'd bet my house that if there was no KHTML, and Apple were unhappy with Gecko, they'd probably create their own proprietary engine, and Google would follow.</p><p>So I'm kinda glad things ended up how they did, and there are no proprietary browser engines around.</p><p>Thanks KDE!</p><p>[1] - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2004/06/collins-interview/#page-2" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">arstechnica.com/information-te</span><span class="invisible">chnology/2004/06/collins-interview/#page-2</span></a><br>[2] - <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121025015655/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-980492.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">web.archive.org/web/2012102501</span><span class="invisible">5655/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-980492.html</span></a></p>