The Linux Foundation anuncia Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsersan initiative that “aims to fund open development and improve projects within the Chromium ecosystem, guaranteeing broad support and sustainability for contributions that drive its technological advancement.”
“With the launch of Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers, we are taking another step forward in empowering the open source community,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “This project will provide funding and support for the development of much-needed projects within the Chromium ecosystem.”
What these necessary projects are has not been specified, but from what they say and how they say it, there is a sense of luck in making Chromium something more significant than it already is, not in the field of browsers, where more than a mere application, it is an entire web platformbut rather open source, an area in which it has never been considered at the level of alternatives such as Firefox.
“Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers will provide a neutral space where leaders from industry, academia, developers and the open source community can work together,” they indicate.
None of this represents a change in the direction of Chromium as a project, which will continue to be run by Google. However, the first large organizations to join Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers include Google itself, as well as companies with their own Chromium derivatives, such as Microsoft and Opera, but also Meta.
«Members of Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers follow an open governance model, based on best practices established by other successful initiatives of The Linux Foundation, prioritizing transparency, inclusion and community development. “A technical advisory committee will be formed to guide the development of the initiative, ensuring it meets the needs of the broader Chromium community,” the announcement concludes.
Is this initiative really necessary? It is worth asking. And if precisely the environment of Chromium is the one that has left us the most diversity in recent years: Chrome, Brave, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Vivaldi… And many others. It doesn’t seem like more Chromium-based browsers are missing. When more is known about Supporters of Chromium-Based Bowsers, perhaps this announcement will become more reasonable.
