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Chrome is open source, so in case something like this happen you can either investigate the source code, or create a more privacy compliant version. No such luc

Chrome is open source, so in case something like this happen you can either investigate the source code, or create a more privacy compliant version. No such luck with I.E. or Safari.

thezilch 16y ago
While Chromium is open source, Chrome is not and could certainly "hide" away such features, but you're right to say that a more-private fork could / would be close behind.
- akshayubhat 16y ago
  Thanks, I didn't knew that, It seems to be like Android model, where they open source it few weeks after public disclosure of features.
  - ithkuil 16y ago
    I use the daily build of chromium on my ubuntu linux. I'm pretty sure that it's the main line of development and I regularly receive new features, new bugs and new bug fixes as days passes. After some time all this goes to the chrome beta and finally in the chrome release. I don't think that google adds tons of code 'behind' the back of the opensource repository which is then merged only a few weeks later, because I see a gradual change (aka. the phenotype of those changes) in the daily builds from the chromium repository.
paulgerhardt 16y ago
Iron is one such browser built off the Chromium source. For a list of some of differences between Chrome and Iron see: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron...
- litewulf 16y ago
  One of the Chrome devs posted an IRC transcript of when an Iron dev dropped by... http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.html http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.ht... ...and it was less than flattering.
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    He's naive perhaps, but otherwise I don't see much wrong with his message. You shouldn't trust google, they're a big cooperation.
    - avar 16y ago
      What's wrong here is that he's refusing to work with a willing upstream. It would be much better for everyone if he submitted patches to Google to allow everyone using Chrome to optionally turn off these tracking features. Instead he's needlessly forking the project to "bring a lot of publicity to my person and my homepage". That's not being a good open source citizen.
      - loewenskind 16y ago
        He claims that in Germany he can make a lot of money at this. If he can then it means he's taking an open source project and doing something with it to make money. It doesn't even sound like he's closing the source of his fork (assuming he would even have this option). It's not the most efficient thing but if he really can make money with this I don't see much fault in it. It's risky because someone else could just push these changes back to Chrome killing his revenue stream.
        avar 16y ago
        Sure, it's just that the whole thing has a big "Google's all about stealing your data" vibe in its advertisements. When in fact Google would be happy to take his patches, and most of those data-sharing features are improving the user experience (like type-ahead suggestions etc.). That just rubs me the wrong way.
gcb 16y ago
What if they hook everyone on things like free calls on gmail and then make the plugin only work with they version of "crome"? I know lots of ppl who would not see any problem. Although it would be very non-google... but lately...
thehigherlife 16y ago
Safari is based on WebKit, which is definitely open source.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

Chrome is open source, so in case something like this happen you can either investigate the source code, or create a more privacy compliant version. No such luck with I.E. or Safari.

thezilch 16y ago

While Chromium is open source, Chrome is not and could certainly "hide" away such features, but you're right to say that a more-private fork could / would be close behind.

akshayubhat 16y ago
Thanks, I didn't knew that, It seems to be like Android model, where they open source it few weeks after public disclosure of features.
- ithkuil 16y ago
  I use the daily build of chromium on my ubuntu linux. I'm pretty sure that it's the main line of development and I regularly receive new features, new bugs and new bug fixes as days passes. After some time all this goes to the chrome beta and finally in the chrome release. I don't think that google adds tons of code 'behind' the back of the opensource repository which is then merged only a few weeks later, because I see a gradual change (aka. the phenotype of those changes) in the daily builds from the chromium repository.

paulgerhardt 16y ago

Iron is one such browser built off the Chromium source. For a list of some of differences between Chrome and Iron see: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron...

litewulf 16y ago
One of the Chrome devs posted an IRC transcript of when an Iron dev dropped by... http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.html http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/notes/2009/12/iron.ht... ...and it was less than flattering.
- loewenskind 16y ago
  He's naive perhaps, but otherwise I don't see much wrong with his message. You shouldn't trust google, they're a big cooperation.
  - avar 16y ago
    What's wrong here is that he's refusing to work with a willing upstream. It would be much better for everyone if he submitted patches to Google to allow everyone using Chrome to optionally turn off these tracking features. Instead he's needlessly forking the project to "bring a lot of publicity to my person and my homepage". That's not being a good open source citizen.
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      He claims that in Germany he can make a lot of money at this. If he can then it means he's taking an open source project and doing something with it to make money. It doesn't even sound like he's closing the source of his fork (assuming he would even have this option). It's not the most efficient thing but if he really can make money with this I don't see much fault in it. It's risky because someone else could just push these changes back to Chrome killing his revenue stream.
      - avar 16y ago
        Sure, it's just that the whole thing has a big "Google's all about stealing your data" vibe in its advertisements. When in fact Google would be happy to take his patches, and most of those data-sharing features are improving the user experience (like type-ahead suggestions etc.). That just rubs me the wrong way.

gcb 16y ago

What if they hook everyone on things like free calls on gmail and then make the plugin only work with they version of "crome"? I know lots of ppl who would not see any problem. Although it would be very non-google... but lately...

thehigherlife 16y ago

Safari is based on WebKit, which is definitely open source.

deleted 16y ago
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