[simondotau]

Huh? The problem with IE6 wasn't its lack of cross-platform support.

Microsoft used a stifling dominance in desktop operating systems to achieve a stifling dominance in browsers. This browser dominance meant that a single entity (Microsoft) dictated the quality and rate of progress of the web as a platform (bad and slow) while developers treated IE6's broken implementations and Windows-exclusive features as de-facto standards.

Today, Google's dominance is being used to achieve a stifling dominance in browsers. This browser dominance means that a single entity (Google) dictates the quality and rate of progress of the web as a platform (whatever suits Google, as fast as possible) while developers are treating Chrome's firehose of features as de-facto standards.

The most IE6-like problem with today's ecosystem is people reflexively defining the web as being a single browser (then IE6, now Chrome). Complaining that Safari is bad because it isn't Chrome is proof that Chrome is the new IE6.

Not only is Safari not like IE6, it's actually the anti-IE6. It's the only thing left to remind web developers that the web is supposed to be based on standards. Safari for iOS is the last significant remnant of browser diversity in a market otherwise stiflingly dominated by Chrome.