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The reason I'm not interested in arc Arc is that its not open source, not even source-available. It may not be hostile to me right now, but the existing browser

The reason I'm not interested in arc Arc is that its not open source, not even source-available. It may not be hostile to me right now, but the existing browsers that I use definitely aren't (ungoogled-chromium, firefox) and if that changes, well, I have their source code. Figuring out how to switch my workflow to a new browser isn't effortless, either.

jw_mc 2y ago
Source availability doesn't really feel relevant to a discussion about why most people don't use it. Most people don't know anything about open source.
- titanomachy 2y ago
  I think it actually was a factor in adoption of Firefox. Enthusiasts switched in part because they understand what open-source means. Ordinary people started using it because their tech-savvy friends insisted it was better than IE, even if they didn’t understand exactly why.
- ninth_ant 2y ago
  It's extremely relevant, as the group of people who are most likely to hear about an alternative browser in the first place are going to be disproportionately favourable and interested in open source specifically. So by not attracting folks who are interested in open source, the company now has an uphill struggle to market to people who are already bombarded with ads and marketing. And when they do reach someone, if that someone asks a tech-knowledgable friend about it they are more likely to get a response of apathy or negativity towards it because of the closed-source nature. This is not to say it's impossible to overcome this hurdle, but it makes their job more difficult. And trying to compete with well-established, free products is already pretty hard to do in the first place.
surgical_fire 2y ago
Shit is not even available in Linux. I use mainly Vivaldi, and Firefox as a backup browser. I wouldn't mind trying Arc to see what the fuss is about even being closed source. But no deal when they don't even support Linux.
odo1242 2y ago
Technically speaking, you can migrate out of Arc pretty quickly just by importing bookmarks into whatever other browser you use and downloading the new extensions. I used it for a bit and went from Chrome to Arc to Firefox in probably around 45 min of migration time. Everything but the UI is open-source Chromium so the main risk is just telemetry.
wwwlouishinofun 2y ago
ArcBrowser functions Chrome Extension Commercial monetization emoji:discussion_white: General Discussion So many functions will definitely affect the speed. Now I am eager to have a Chrome plug-in with arc function. We can freely choose which functions to enable. I can freely choose whether to enable the boost feature or to open sub-tabs in a pop-up window on Chrome. Isn't that cool? For TBC, wouldn't it be better to make these functions into separate Chrome extension plugins? I hope they consider this commercial monetization approach. Upvote 1 Downvote 0 Go to comments

jw_mc 2y ago

Source availability doesn't really feel relevant to a discussion about why most people don't use it. Most people don't know anything about open source.

titanomachy 2y ago
I think it actually was a factor in adoption of Firefox. Enthusiasts switched in part because they understand what open-source means. Ordinary people started using it because their tech-savvy friends insisted it was better than IE, even if they didn’t understand exactly why.
ninth_ant 2y ago
It's extremely relevant, as the group of people who are most likely to hear about an alternative browser in the first place are going to be disproportionately favourable and interested in open source specifically. So by not attracting folks who are interested in open source, the company now has an uphill struggle to market to people who are already bombarded with ads and marketing. And when they do reach someone, if that someone asks a tech-knowledgable friend about it they are more likely to get a response of apathy or negativity towards it because of the closed-source nature. This is not to say it's impossible to overcome this hurdle, but it makes their job more difficult. And trying to compete with well-established, free products is already pretty hard to do in the first place.

surgical_fire 2y ago

Shit is not even available in Linux. I use mainly Vivaldi, and Firefox as a backup browser. I wouldn't mind trying Arc to see what the fuss is about even being closed source. But no deal when they don't even support Linux.

odo1242 2y ago

Technically speaking, you can migrate out of Arc pretty quickly just by importing bookmarks into whatever other browser you use and downloading the new extensions. I used it for a bit and went from Chrome to Arc to Firefox in probably around 45 min of migration time. Everything but the UI is open-source Chromium so the main risk is just telemetry.

wwwlouishinofun 2y ago

ArcBrowser functions Chrome Extension Commercial monetization emoji:discussion_white: General Discussion So many functions will definitely affect the speed. Now I am eager to have a Chrome plug-in with arc function. We can freely choose which functions to enable. I can freely choose whether to enable the boost feature or to open sub-tabs in a pop-up window on Chrome. Isn't that cool? For TBC, wouldn't it be better to make these functions into separate Chrome extension plugins? I hope they consider this commercial monetization approach. Upvote 1 Downvote 0 Go to comments