[simondotau]

Hi. :-D

My point is only that testing on any non-free platform involves jumping through non-free or non-legal hoops. Testing on a variety of platforms/clients shouldn't be considered a chore. It's a necessary part of having a truly open, truly free web. Don't complain that you have to buy an Apple device. Say thank you. Seriously.

Diversity — not choice — is what keeps the web truly open and truly free. Enforced diversity sometimes sucks for the individual but necessary for the healt of the ecosystem. The "choice" of Chromium everywhere isn't a choice, it's forcing everyone into a monoculture. When everyone is expected to use one browser engine, the open web is dead.

Because it cannot run Chromium, Safari on iPhone is the last refuge of the truly open and truly free web. Steve Jobs might be known for many things, but I think he's under-appreciated as a two-time saviour of the web; first by destroying Adobe Flash[0], and second by ensuring that one web browser couldn't dominate on all platforms.

[0] To this day I am utterly stunned that anyone in a community like Hacker News would think it acceptable that a significant chunk of the web was under the thumb of a proprietary, closed source binary blob. The death of Flash was necessary, righteous, and overdue.