Mainline Firefox still tears horribly on every platform where the WM doesn't transparently handle the draws. Will this be included for the entirety of the browser, or just B2G?
Syncing the compositor's page flips to vsync is already possible if you have hw layers on. Check about:support for GPU Accelerated Windows. It should also work in software if your display protocol supports explicit buffer flips - for example, the GTK3 version of Firefox.
edit: Firefox doesn't tear for me with GTK2 either, but I'm actually not sure why that is. Full screen videos tear with GTK2.
This is the codename for a project, not a product feature name. It's not something that users will be exposed to in the long term, just a moniker to organize efforts around a goal.
Funnily enough, today I have been working on an android app at a small startup which is also called Silk internally.
Namespace collision isn't that bad in practice. The UI of Firefox has been called "chrome" in the source code since long before google chrome existed, for example. It looks like it still is:
The word "chrome" had been used to describe window components long before Chrome the browser showed up. So it isn't an accidental collision, it is a shortened name of the upstream Chromium project (named after the element). I've never been a big fan of the crazy names Silicon Valley comes up with, but hijacking existing words is much worse. I can't wait to see how Microsoft's use of the word "hologram" causes similar confusion.
Actually, Chrome is named for the interface. It's meant to be ironic because the point of Chrome is reducing the browsers chrome making more room for the Web page.
The name Chromium was playing on the fact that it's the metal used in chrome plating. (Just as the Chromium Project is used in making the browser Chrome.)
