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You can also use Brave browser, it's basically Chrome with the ad tracking removed. With that, almost no reason to switch to another browser.

devy 7y ago
Brave looks amazing, the question I have is, just like how Google Chrome, can they be trusted as a private entity?
- TylerE 7y ago
  Well, they're shilling their own worthless cryptocurrency, so it is obvious to me that they cannot be.
  - FillardMillmore 7y ago
    It is an opt-in system. They're not making you use it and you don't lose anything by choosing not to opt-in. What exactly are they doing that you would consider "shilling"? https://brave.com/brave-rewards/ https://brave.com/brave-rewards/
    - TylerE 7y ago
      What would you call creating a new alt-coin and implying it will some day have value? That entire industry is a dumpster fire of greed, fraud, and misrepresentation.
    - eitland 7y ago
      A good chunk of HN is really fed up with cryptocurrencies. Whoever are pushing them - including Telegram that I otherwise like - are damaging their reputation in my eyes.
GhettoMaestro 7y ago
Interesting. Any downside of Brave? Small userbase, etc ?
- xtracto 7y ago
  I use it in my Android, because it allows me to have an ad blocking browser without rooting and without installing any additional software. My gripe there is that it started showing push notifications of ads!!! Once I blocked all its notifications everything went to normality.
  - moystard 7y ago
    This would be a showstopper for me. Turning off the notifications addresses only part of the issue, I would never trust them again. Why not use Firefox?
Angeo34 7y ago
>injects own custom http headers so advertisers can uniquely identify you even easier >takes crypto donation hostage and opens funds in other people's names (i.e. scams crypto to artificially create demand for that BAT) If you use Brave you literally are part of the problem.
needle0 7y ago
You’re still contributing to the Chromium engine monoculture, though.
- chenster 7y ago
  Guess we are dealing with purists here. Mind you that Chromium is free and open-source just like MySQL. A strategical move by the community to fork MySQL to MariaDB to ensure it remained free and open from the tech giant after it was acquired by Oracle. How Brave is any different? It made a similar move. Some people hate crypto. Fine. Personally I've never used the Brave crypto. Perhaps FF 70 has completely fixed its performance problem, sure, happy to switch. But before that really happens Brave is still a viable interim solution.
  - rovr138 7y ago
    The issue is the engine. There are few big engines out there and chromium is taking a lot of the market. The issue with this is that they could start controlling the standards and everyone would have to follow behind instead of everyone working and doing what’s best for consumers. While chromium is open source, that doesn’t mean they have to accept merges from the community. It only means that they have to provide the source code. Yes it can be forked, but now you have to maintain or develop your engine. If they’re the dominant ones and are setting standards, that won’t help much. By using another one you are helping keep a neutral ground. The difference between MySQL and MariaDB is that you have PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, MSSQL among a bunch of others, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_database_management_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_datab... So the issue isn’t forking or not, but the fact that it’s still close enough that gives chromium the competitive edge and could kill the market.

devy 7y ago

Brave looks amazing, the question I have is, just like how Google Chrome, can they be trusted as a private entity?

TylerE 7y ago
Well, they're shilling their own worthless cryptocurrency, so it is obvious to me that they cannot be.
- FillardMillmore 7y ago
  It is an opt-in system. They're not making you use it and you don't lose anything by choosing not to opt-in. What exactly are they doing that you would consider "shilling"? https://brave.com/brave-rewards/ https://brave.com/brave-rewards/
  - TylerE 7y ago
    What would you call creating a new alt-coin and implying it will some day have value? That entire industry is a dumpster fire of greed, fraud, and misrepresentation.
  - eitland 7y ago
    A good chunk of HN is really fed up with cryptocurrencies. Whoever are pushing them - including Telegram that I otherwise like - are damaging their reputation in my eyes.

GhettoMaestro 7y ago

Interesting. Any downside of Brave? Small userbase, etc ?

xtracto 7y ago
I use it in my Android, because it allows me to have an ad blocking browser without rooting and without installing any additional software. My gripe there is that it started showing push notifications of ads!!! Once I blocked all its notifications everything went to normality.
- moystard 7y ago
  This would be a showstopper for me. Turning off the notifications addresses only part of the issue, I would never trust them again. Why not use Firefox?

Angeo34 7y ago

>injects own custom http headers so advertisers can uniquely identify you even easier >takes crypto donation hostage and opens funds in other people's names (i.e. scams crypto to artificially create demand for that BAT) If you use Brave you literally are part of the problem.

needle0 7y ago

You’re still contributing to the Chromium engine monoculture, though.

chenster 7y ago
Guess we are dealing with purists here. Mind you that Chromium is free and open-source just like MySQL. A strategical move by the community to fork MySQL to MariaDB to ensure it remained free and open from the tech giant after it was acquired by Oracle. How Brave is any different? It made a similar move. Some people hate crypto. Fine. Personally I've never used the Brave crypto. Perhaps FF 70 has completely fixed its performance problem, sure, happy to switch. But before that really happens Brave is still a viable interim solution.
- rovr138 7y ago
  The issue is the engine. There are few big engines out there and chromium is taking a lot of the market. The issue with this is that they could start controlling the standards and everyone would have to follow behind instead of everyone working and doing what’s best for consumers. While chromium is open source, that doesn’t mean they have to accept merges from the community. It only means that they have to provide the source code. Yes it can be forked, but now you have to maintain or develop your engine. If they’re the dominant ones and are setting standards, that won’t help much. By using another one you are helping keep a neutral ground. The difference between MySQL and MariaDB is that you have PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, MSSQL among a bunch of others, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_database_management_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_datab... So the issue isn’t forking or not, but the fact that it’s still close enough that gives chromium the competitive edge and could kill the market.