The inherent problem with creating a new browser/platform is getting people to create addons/extensions for it.
If you don’t think Google could do this, think again. Google has an iron grip on the Chromium project.
From the beginning of its time with Google, Android was touted as THE open-source phone operating system. The Android Open Source Project was used by several projects to create their own version of Android.
Then at a certain point, Google introduced an app called Google Play Services. This app is not open source and contains all of the stuff you need to access Google’s services.
There have been a few good articles posted here about this in the past. I will try to dig some up from desktop.
A lot of attention is being paid to the sync feature, which I would just assume have removed entirely. A bigger issue imo, is this “Google has an iron grip on the Chromium project” because if they defund mozilla and break chromium, the internet quickly becomes a chrome and safari garden with all the tracking (cookie-less or otherwise). This is another reason to start using gemini and keep a close eye on google’s centralisation tactics.
edit: here is one past post with commentary: Chromium maintainer for Fedora has disabled Sync and Google Sign-In support right now https://lemmy.ml/post/49089 , https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2021-48866282e5
I am afraid that Gemini is not the answer in this case. Gemini is not supposed to replace the Web, it is supposed to coexist along the Web, meant for different use cases. One couldn’t host Lemmy on Gemini for example. If we want to find an alternative, we would need to look elsewhere, as far as I know.
Yes, it is just another reason to use gemini, not as a replacement but as an option keep paths open outside the garden walls. You could mirror lemmy on gemini like this lobsters example gemini://typed-hole.org/lobsters/lobsters.gemini
https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/typed-hole.org/lobsters/lobsters.gemini
But yes, it seems we still need a browser for most things.
How do I use Gemini? it seems intresting
there’s a community /c/gemini with some basic information
For starters, you can visit gemini sites through the browser at https://portal.mozz.us
and there is a list of clients (and servers) here:
https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gemini.circumlunar.space/software/
on iOS I use deedum and on laptop lagrange
some android people can probably recommend a good app and command-line enthusiasts probably have good cli options
here is a another list of resources: https://github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini
Deedum works on Android too, but there are many other applications if necessary, e.g. Ariane.
I agree. This is exactly what was missing in my reply and I should have thought about that. Having an option to escape walled gardens is just as important, even if for example Gemini is not sufficient to replace the modern Web entirely.
Ye, but not communicate easily, allow multiple users to post etc. In general, if I am not mistaken, the problem with Gemini would be its passive, read-only nature from the point of view of a capsule’s visitor (not creator).
In terms of interactivity, I need to look more into this bliz. I don’t know what it is capable of, but maybe some limited form of a comment section could be implemented
example of submitting a search: https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/gus.guru/search%3Flemmy
more on cgi: https://github.com/makeworld-the-better-one/gemlikes
OK, that seems interesting. Maybe Gemini could be capable of even more than I anticipated then. Will have to look into that.