Will Popular Operating System like Windows, Android, iOS/OS X always bundle web browsers?

[froggyboy604]

Yes, I feel Microsoft Windows will always come bundled with browsers like MS Edge and IE, Google Android will be bundled with Google Chrome, and Apple iOS and OS X will always come bundled with Apple Safari.

Web browsers make a lot of money for operating systems because the default search engines are usually set to Microsoft Bing, Google Search, and other search engines where operating system makers earn money from ads on search engine results, so OS makers are likely to bundle their browser with their OS.

But, some countries with stricter anti-monopoly/anti-competition laws may ask Operating System makers like Microsoft, Google, and Apple to not bundle their web browser, and make a web browser download tool to make it easy for users to choose a web browser to download and install on their PC or device like a phone.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Commercial OS makers have a browser as well, bundling them is not only part of self-promotion, it also allows users who just bought a PC to browse the internet right after first boot (which is what all computer users nowadays do any way).

Linux distros generally bundle Firefox with their OS, since it's the only mainstream browser that's open source too, though we have a much easier time installing an alternative browser than Windows or macOS users without ever using the bundled one, since we have software repositories out of the box.
There is one distro (Antergos) that gives the user a choice between Chromium and Firefox while installing the OS, and you can as well choose neither of the 2 if you want, and install a different browser after OS installation instead.

 

[froggyboy604]

This is true that most commercial operating systems including operating systems in modern game consoles, smart TVs, and settop TV boxes come with a web browser for people to browse.

Although, there maybe a few users who mainly use the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter app which comes with a basic web browser when they need to browse to a site which is not within the social network like Instagram, so a standalone web browser is not always needed.

 

[IntoxNitram]

Don't they kind of have to? Otherwise, how would you access the internet to download anything (such as an internet browser)

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Don't they kind of have to? Otherwise, how would you access the internet to download anything (such as an internet browser)

As stated before, not all operating systems require a browser to download and install stuff.
The very OS I'm using now comes with a software repository where I can download and install tens of thousands of free software without the need of an internet browser, plus an additional billions of software if you enable the Arch User Repository (AUR).

The next thing to consider is that Windows 8 and newer comes with a Windows Store (though buggy as hell, even after so many years), macOS comes with an App Store since 10.6.8, so does iOS from version 2, and Android always had a Play Store (Android Marketplace before the name change).
Additionally, Windows users have an option to mimic the power of installing stuff on Linux by installing Chocolatey, and so macOS users can by installing Homebrew.

 

[froggyboy604]

Don't they kind of have to? Otherwise, how would you access the internet to download anything (such as an internet browser)

The web browser offline installer files can be bundled with the operating system installer disc/usb flash drive, and users can pick which browser they want to install rather than being forced to use Internet Explorer/Edge, Chrome, or Safari as the default browser which is sometimes hard or impossible for most users to easily uninstall without messing up their OS.

The operating system can come with a simple program which automatically starts the downloading, and installing of a web browser after the user picks their favorite browser from the browser download program.

Users can also use an app store like Windows Store, Google Play, Apple App store, etc to download their favorite browser which best suits their needs.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I've never understood why MS simply didn't kill off IE and just partnered with google to start out everything with chrome. Would just make things so much better.

Don't they kind of have to? Otherwise, how would you access the internet to download anything (such as an internet browser)

usb with preloaded software to install.

 

[froggyboy604]

I've never understood why MS simply didn't kill off IE and just partnered with google to start out everything with chrome. Would just make things so much better.



usb with preloaded software to install.

I agree partnering with Google Chrome or using the free opensource Chromium web browser will make many users have a better user experience since many PC users mainly use IE to download Chrome. Using Chrome as the default browser can make Windows user less likely to get infected with a virus infection by accidentally downloading Chrome from an unsafe website to download a fake version of Chrome which contains a virus, or getting infected by a dangerous Ad on a website which infects IE from an unpatched version of IE like IE 9 which is the last version of IE for XP before IE got discontinued in XP.

There are also web browsers like Firefox which can run portable versions of the browser on a USB drive, or the user can copy and paste the folder on the drive to run the browser on a internal hard drive.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Practically, everything is slowly becoming Chromium-based.
Electron is getting so hip, it's already slowly replacing .NET Framework, Java, GTK+, Qt, Visual Basic, or whatever other GUI framework you were using to create desktop apps with.
Even Microsoft jumped on this bandwagon, since Visual Studio Code and Skype are both made with Electron, which allows it to run on Linux, Windows, and macOS using a single code base.
Discord is another popular example, so is Atom, and many other new apps.

All such apps run a version of Chromium in the background.
At work we have to create a CRM system using the same techniques, except we use Node JS, since it needs to be used in a browser rather than as a standalone app.

 

[froggyboy604]

Practically, everything is slowly becoming Chromium-based.
Electron is getting so hip, it's already slowly replacing .NET Framework, Java, GTK+, Qt, Visual Basic, or whatever other GUI framework you were using to create desktop apps with.
Even Microsoft jumped on this bandwagon, since Visual Studio Code and Skype are both made with Electron, which allows it to run on Linux, Windows, and macOS using a single code base.
Discord is another popular example, so is Atom, and many other new apps.

All such apps run a version of Chromium in the background.
At work we have to create a CRM system using the same techniques, except we use Node JS, since it needs to be used in a browser rather than as a standalone app.

There is a new report at Mozilla is dabbling with experiments in Chromium | TheINQUIRER that Firefox is experimenting with Chromium for an experimental web browser.

I think there is a possibility that Firefox may release a Chromium based browser in the future to make it easier for add-on web browers makers to publish their add-ons to the Firefox web add-on store.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Funny that you mention it, because I recently found a new browser that was also made with Electron (and therefore, Chromium) that actually cares about your privacy.
Introducing, Brave: Home

Gave it a test spin here, and I can see it still has some show stopping bugs at this time, but it might become my primary browser once all the mainstream browsers will start censoring you from watching so-called "fake news" (which is ironically the media that represents the truth mostly, while all the "true media" are in fact creating fake news).

 

[froggyboy604]

Brave looks like a good web browser for less tech savvy internet users who want to protect their privacy, save bandwidth by blocking ads, block ads, and pop-ups windows, but don't want to take the time to learn which ad blocker add-on is best, and which ad blockers are untrustworthy.