For those new to the discussion, Opera recently implemented aliases for -webkit- CSS prefixes in its mobile emulator, potentially with plans to follow on the desktop as well. This means that Opera will now treat -webkit- prefixes the same way it treats -o-. Bruce Lawson, an evangelist at Opera, told .Net magazine:
Opera, along with Microsoft and Mozilla, announced at a CSS Working Group meeting that we would support some WebKit prefixes. This is because too many authors of mobile sites only use the WebKit-prefixed version, and not even the standard, unprefixed one, when it is available.
Microsoft actually followed up:
A Microsoft spokesperson has provided a comment to .net on that company’s position: “A passing comment made in a working group meeting has clearly been misinterpreted. Microsoft won’t support –webkit prefixes in Internet Explorer.”
I highly encourage you to read the actual transcript, though. It’s important to note that the conversation is equally led by Tantek Çelik, from Mozilla, and the healthy conversation/debate that follows. It is clear that this move is part of a larger conversation about browser share and mobile usage.
