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Selling browsers was tried, back in the 90s. They lost to free, when the audience was much more limited. Trying to sell a browser now is an even weaker proposit
by Uvix 2y ago
Selling browsers was tried, back in the 90s. They lost to free, when the audience was much more limited. Trying to sell a browser now is an even weaker proposition to most users.
I also think you're overselling how many devs would pay for their resources. Individual contractors? Sure. But anybody salaried? My employer's response wouldn't be "sure, we'll pay for MDN & Firefox dev tools for all our devs"; it'll be "go use Chrome or Edge to debug, and use GitHub Copilot if you've got questions on how the web works". (I recognize that Copilot is crap as an MDN substitute, but the beancounters will take "we're already paying for that" over "new expense" any day.)
- ivanmontillam 2y ago> Trying to sell a browser now is an even weaker proposition to most users. To most users yes, but a group of power users like me can make them life-changing money. I'd happily pay a monthly subscription for my web browser. It just does not need to be a U.S. entity. Otherwise, people without a Visa or Mastercard will be left out. Crypto is fine for this use case.
- wyclif 2y agoIt's interesting to me the uphill battle Kagi is fighting to get people to pay for ad-free search and browsing. I wish them all the best because I think it's a fight worth having. https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/why-pay-for-search.html https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/why-pay-for-search.html
- ivanmontillam 2y agoKagi is fighting the good fight. I admire them, though I'm not yet a customer. I stumbled upon their Orion docs, I find the following concerning: Orion is a free, lightning-fast, privacy-protecting browser for Apple users, open to the web and all its standards and protocols. One day, we hope everyone will say Orion is the best browser for all Apple devices. We're glad you're here! That's fine and dandy, but I'm not an Apple user (I'm South American). I'd assume Apple is the larger user base for their U.S. customers, but outside of the U.S., Apple is not really a thing.
- wyclif 2y agooutside of the U.S., Apple is not really a thing I think Apple is still very much a thing in the EU and the Anglosphere. What platform are you on?
- ivanmontillam 2y agoI live in the south of South America. Apple doesn't have official stores around here like they do in the U.S., so Apple doesn't enjoy of the market forces like other vendors do. Just to single out an example, Samsung here takes device trade-ins of both Samsung and Apple devices. If you wanted an iPhone you'd have to buy it at full price new always. Not even carriers offer discounts for Apple devices. For starters, Samsung in this country has a factory/assembly line making it cheaper for locals, so your device is put together here and also exported to the neighbours. If you want my claim backed up with numbers: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/android-vs-apple/ https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/android-vs-apple/
- wyclif 2y agoI don't doubt your claim. The only thing I'm maintaining here is that Apple is quite popular in many countries outside the US. Go to Australia and NZ and notice how many people have iPhones.
- inetknght 2y ago> Selling browsers was tried, back in the 90s. They lost to free, when the audience was much more limited. Trying to sell a browser now is an even weaker proposition to most users. So was search. Look at Kagi now.