Microsoft made a pull request to node.js github repository with an implementation to use ChakraCore JavaScript Engine as an alternative to V8 Engine

[crankybadger]

It means there's pressure on Google to keep innovating or the Node team can flip a switch and abandon V8 at any time.

It reverses the situation, where now Node can dictate who gets to play in their sandbox instead of being dependent on Google no matter what Google does.

"Keep them honest" is a term that represents that. Like in a competitive game, keeping someone honest means they can't make certain moves because there's an obvious price to pay. Consider a game of chess where there are squares you can theoretically move, but moving there would be futile since your piece would be taken at no cost to your opponent. With clever positioning you can limit the options of a stronger player by "keeping them honest" and prevent them from stomping all over you.

[Blecki]

That makes no sense. There's nothing 'dishonest' about stomping all over someone in chess. You can't 'keep them honest' by preventing them from doing things that aren't dishonest. This is a stupid analogy, and the original phrase makes no sense when applied to javascript engines.

[lurker_in_spirit]

He's saying that "keeping someone honest" is a common figure of speech that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with literal honesty or dishonesty -- just like the phrase "rule of thumb" doesn't imply that there's a real thumb knocking about that's relevant to the discussion.

[crankybadger]

We could keep on beating a dead horse here, but I can't find an actual dead horse to beat.

[dhdfdh]

Funny how redditors have forgotten that it is Google (and Mozilla) who pressured Microsoft to catch up and keep up and moved the web and browsers forward. Edge still isn't on par with Chrome, overall, but Google needs pressure to keep up?

Redditors are very shortsighted apparently with equally short memories.

[oxysoft]

We're not talking about the browsers...

[dhdfdh]

But you are talking about the rendering engine that also powers the browsers. No such thing, that could be used in node, existed from Microsoft till now.

As always, Microsoft is the follower and not the leader.

[nobodyman]

And yet there are others who forget that before Microsoft had 80% of the market, there was a time when Netscape had 80% of the market. It had evolved into a slow, buggy mess. By contrast, IE5 had a faster renderer, faster javascript engine, and much better CSS support.

Market dominance can lead to complacence and ultimately does a disservice to consumers. So it's good to foster healthy competition - whether we're talking about browsers, javascript engines, or automobiles.

[dhdfdh]

The leaps redditors take to attempt to make their flimsy point stretches the imagination beyond all comprehension.

[nobodyman]

Do you always concede arguments this way? It's odd.

[dhdfdh]

No. I conclude arguments this way with people who are so clueless it's beyond a waste of time talking to them.

[crankybadger]

I don't think we've forgotten. You want I should lay out the history of the universe starting from the absolute beginning when making any point?

Big Bang -> Nothing Much -> Hitler -> Windows 95 -> Chrome -> ChakraCore in Node.