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> Chromium is open source > Nearly every browser is based on open source code "We lost the war, haven't we?" What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forkin

> Chromium is open source > Nearly every browser is based on open source code "We lost the war, haven't we?" What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? Microsoft got complacent and IE lost to Mozilla. Mozilla got bloated, lazy and they lost their focus after several missteps, several of which alienated the fuck out of the FOSS community. (Forcing several distros to fork and rebrand to something like Iceweasel? Seriously? Way to dilute your own branding.) Chrome took over because it simply was the better browser. It brought a lot of new things to the table that made Firefox look stale in relatively short amount of time. Is it still the better browser? I don't think that's quite as clear cut these days... but unfortunately, browsers like "Brave" aren't doing anyone any favors with their misleading presentation, sketchy tactics and meme like spamming from users who don't look beyond bitelines. So when it comes down to it, every Chromium fork that currently exists still has a business, with business motives, behind it. The source is there. Does somebody want to make an effort to fork it and let it be the true privacy focused browser or are we just going to complain about losing a war that nobody's really fighting?

fctorial 5y ago
> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? What's stopping you from forking taj mahal?
- elisaado 5y ago
  Taj Mahal is not open source, chromium is.
  - fctorial 5y ago
    Taj mahal is also open source. You just aren't putting in enough effort.
withinboredom 5y ago
> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? Widevine, for starters. It's also licensed by, you guessed it, Google.
- artifact_44 5y ago
  Google bought widevine last year. Now you can use it on raspberry pi, and other devices. So while true, your statement actually is an example of google making the infrastructure more available under the google umbrella. Google didn't invent that particular DRM, but now that it's widespread, they have bought it outright. I don't know if their purchase included the rights to open source it in the near future, but it wouldn't surprise me. However, Amazon Prime Video, BBC, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and Disney+ all use widevine, so I imagine there are more companies at play in this scenario than just google.
  - rndgermandude 5y ago
    >Google bought widevine last year. Google bought widewine in 2010 >Google didn't invent that particular DRM, but now that it's widespread, they have bought it outright. It invented most of it, in the last 10 years it owned widevine. As for how open widevine is: >I'm sorry but we're not supporting an open source solution like this https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html Or as Brian Bondy, of Brave, put it: >This is a prime example for why free as in beer is not enough. Small share browsers are at the mercy of Google, and Google is stalling us for no communicated-to-us reason. https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/10449#issuecomment-323800130 https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/10449#issueco... So yeah, you can fork chromium and make your own nifty browser. But do not expect being able to play any video from any paid streaming service any time soon or ever.
dt3ft 5y ago
> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? Off the top of my head? My rent. Someone has to pay it, and if I wanted to dethrone Chrome, I'd have to quit my 9-5. Also, my 9-5 is using my most productive hours.
- artifact_44 5y ago
  It's not googles fault that you can't afford to fork their browser into a competing product.

fctorial 5y ago

> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? What's stopping you from forking taj mahal?

elisaado 5y ago
Taj Mahal is not open source, chromium is.
- fctorial 5y ago
  Taj mahal is also open source. You just aren't putting in enough effort.

withinboredom 5y ago

> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? Widevine, for starters. It's also licensed by, you guessed it, Google.

artifact_44 5y ago
Google bought widevine last year. Now you can use it on raspberry pi, and other devices. So while true, your statement actually is an example of google making the infrastructure more available under the google umbrella. Google didn't invent that particular DRM, but now that it's widespread, they have bought it outright. I don't know if their purchase included the rights to open source it in the near future, but it wouldn't surprise me. However, Amazon Prime Video, BBC, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify and Disney+ all use widevine, so I imagine there are more companies at play in this scenario than just google.
- rndgermandude 5y ago
  >Google bought widevine last year. Google bought widewine in 2010 >Google didn't invent that particular DRM, but now that it's widespread, they have bought it outright. It invented most of it, in the last 10 years it owned widevine. As for how open widevine is: >I'm sorry but we're not supporting an open source solution like this https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html Or as Brian Bondy, of Brave, put it: >This is a prime example for why free as in beer is not enough. Small share browsers are at the mercy of Google, and Google is stalling us for no communicated-to-us reason. https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/10449#issuecomment-323800130 https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/10449#issueco... So yeah, you can fork chromium and make your own nifty browser. But do not expect being able to play any video from any paid streaming service any time soon or ever.

dt3ft 5y ago

> What's stopping you, or anyone else, from forking code and making it privacy focused? Off the top of my head? My rent. Someone has to pay it, and if I wanted to dethrone Chrome, I'd have to quit my 9-5. Also, my 9-5 is using my most productive hours.

artifact_44 5y ago
It's not googles fault that you can't afford to fork their browser into a competing product.