Ah, so you're referring to Chrome, which shipped Chrome 1.0 at the tail end of 2008, and was in effect exercising normal root programme behaviour by the time I was on the scene in 2015 (but presumably also before).
So your presumptions (no, Chrome did not have their own root program in 2015 or before; they announced [1] it in 2020, as I wrote, and blocking individual CAs out of it on a case by case basis does not quite make a full root program) and unwillingness to spend one minute to fact check them are a lack of perspective on my side?
My point was that Chrome (arguably not an insignificant browser) did use the OS’s root CA lists for 12 years (or 7, if you really want to count individual CA bans as a program; arguably both not an insignificant time span).
I think this is, at best, a lack of understanding of what's really going on, and at worst just obstinence.
As Ryan explains this was basically the same thing with new paint on it, it reminds me of the UK's "Supreme Court". Let me digress briefly to explain:
On paper historically the UK didn't have an independent final court of appeal, significant appeals of the law would end up at the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary ("Law Lords" for short) who were actual Lords, in principle unelected legislators from the UK's upper chamber. Hundreds of years ago they really were just lords, not really judges at all. The US in contrast notionally has an independent final court of appeal, completely independent from the rest of the US government, much better. Except in reality the Law Lords were completely independent, chosen among the country's judges by independent hiring process while the US Supreme Court are just appointed hacks for the President's party, not especially competent or effective jurists but loyal to party values.
So the fresh coat of paint gave the UK a "Supreme Court" in 2009 by designating a building and sending exactly the same factually independent jurists to go work in that building with their independent final court of appeal and stop requiring them to notionally be Lords (although in practice they are all still granted the title "Lord") who met in some committee room in the Palace of Westminster. The thin appearance changed to match the ideals the Americans never met, the reality was exactly the same as before.
And that's what Ryan is writing about in that post. In theory there was now a Chrome root programme, in practice there already was, in principle now you need a sign-off from Ryan's team in practice you already did. In theory now you're now discussing inclusion on m.d.s.policy because you want Chrome trust programme approval, in practice that's already a big part of why you're there.
When Chrome 1.0 shipped it was important to deliver compatibility to gain market share. Soon it didn't matter, they could and did choose to depart from that compatibility to distinguish Chrome as better than the alternatives.
7 years for one browser compared to 30 years for all browsers does I'm afraid seem a long way from "like it used to be" and much more "how I wrongly thought it should work".
Here's an example of them doing just that:
https://security.googleblog.com/2017/09/chromes-plan-to-dist...
I think this is just a lack of perspective on your part.