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Is there an alternative to Firefox that is not controlled by big tech? One of the saddest outcomes of what seems to be the inevitable demise of Firefox would be

Is there an alternative to Firefox that is not controlled by big tech? One of the saddest outcomes of what seems to be the inevitable demise of Firefox would be that there would be no viable alternative to big tech browsers.

lmm 2y ago
Konqueror was always the only sensible choice, the only browser built from the ground up as open-source, and still the best I've ever used.
- jraph 2y ago
  Konqueror is unfortunately not an option anymore when it comes to having an alternative to the big web engines, as it relies on Blink or WebKit now.
  - extraduder_ire 2y ago
    Konqueror has been written in webkit since back when it was called KHTML. It's where apple got the original source code to make Safari.
    - jraph 2y ago
      The KDE folks did some impressive work back then. That the world basically runs on derivatives is quite the achievement. But you can't say anymore that Konqueror is an alternative to big tech. I wish we still had a live khtml developed by KDE today but we don't. We don't have any non big tech alternative today. Firefox is funded by Google. There's hope with servo and ladybug. Netsurf seemed like a very nice codebase but somehow it seems to remain small and too limited for most uses.
- rpgbr 2y ago
  Konqueror isn’t the main KDE browser anymore. It’s Falkon, and both use QtWebEngine, which is based on Chromium. KHTML is dead AFAIK.
insane_dreamer 2y ago
Opera?
- jraph 2y ago
  Nope. Opera now relies on Blink, Chrome's engine. It is an alternative browser UI bit relies on Big Tech for the rendering.
- pm3003 2y ago
  I wish Opera AB had made the Presto Engine Open Source. Opera 12 was a really impressive browser.
  - insane_dreamer 2y ago
    Why don’t they do so now if they don’t even use it anymore?
- stiltzkin 2y ago
  [dead]
g8oz 2y ago
Maybe Ladybird, one day
ozornin 2y ago
Orion by Kagi https://kagi.com/orion/ https://kagi.com/orion/
- psd1 2y ago
  It says on the first line that it's powered by webkit. You're technically correct, it's an independent browser, but I find that moot if it's just a repackaging of a big tech render engine.
  - kevincox 2y ago
    WebKit has mostly splut from Blink. Really as long as you aren't using a repackaged Chromium you aren't getting all of Google's harmful features by default and are resisting the monoculture. Safari definitely isn't the best option to diversify into (Apple shares lots of Google's harmful ideas such as their own version of Web Environment Integrity) but I consider it a significant step up from Chrome.
autoexec 2y ago
Forks of firefox? LibreWolf seems nice but it remains to be seen how long they'd last if firefox stopped being developed by Mozilla

lmm 2y ago

Konqueror was always the only sensible choice, the only browser built from the ground up as open-source, and still the best I've ever used.

jraph 2y ago
Konqueror is unfortunately not an option anymore when it comes to having an alternative to the big web engines, as it relies on Blink or WebKit now.
- extraduder_ire 2y ago
  Konqueror has been written in webkit since back when it was called KHTML. It's where apple got the original source code to make Safari.
  - jraph 2y ago
    The KDE folks did some impressive work back then. That the world basically runs on derivatives is quite the achievement. But you can't say anymore that Konqueror is an alternative to big tech. I wish we still had a live khtml developed by KDE today but we don't. We don't have any non big tech alternative today. Firefox is funded by Google. There's hope with servo and ladybug. Netsurf seemed like a very nice codebase but somehow it seems to remain small and too limited for most uses.
rpgbr 2y ago
Konqueror isn’t the main KDE browser anymore. It’s Falkon, and both use QtWebEngine, which is based on Chromium. KHTML is dead AFAIK.

insane_dreamer 2y ago

Opera?

jraph 2y ago
Nope. Opera now relies on Blink, Chrome's engine. It is an alternative browser UI bit relies on Big Tech for the rendering.
pm3003 2y ago
I wish Opera AB had made the Presto Engine Open Source. Opera 12 was a really impressive browser.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  Why don’t they do so now if they don’t even use it anymore?
stiltzkin 2y ago
[dead]

g8oz 2y ago

Maybe Ladybird, one day

ozornin 2y ago

Orion by Kagi https://kagi.com/orion/ https://kagi.com/orion/

psd1 2y ago
It says on the first line that it's powered by webkit. You're technically correct, it's an independent browser, but I find that moot if it's just a repackaging of a big tech render engine.
- kevincox 2y ago
  WebKit has mostly splut from Blink. Really as long as you aren't using a repackaged Chromium you aren't getting all of Google's harmful features by default and are resisting the monoculture. Safari definitely isn't the best option to diversify into (Apple shares lots of Google's harmful ideas such as their own version of Web Environment Integrity) but I consider it a significant step up from Chrome.

autoexec 2y ago

Forks of firefox? LibreWolf seems nice but it remains to be seen how long they'd last if firefox stopped being developed by Mozilla