4 ms·

In this day and age I dont understand why there isnt a more successful fork of firefox or a new opensource browser thats more succesful with privacy as a concer

In this day and age I dont understand why there isnt a more successful fork of firefox or a new opensource browser thats more succesful with privacy as a concern. My only speculation is collective lazyness and lack of sex appeal as new technologies have emerged. I’m probably biased as I lived through the browser wars. I guess I’m probably projecting combined with curiosity. I know most of the old greybeards have moved on and those of us left are stuck carrying the torch, but man it sure seems the culture has been eroded significantly. Case in point back in my day it seemed like there was a new browser every few months or so. I’m done ranting, I’ve got kids to yell at to get off my lawn.

mattl 1y ago
WebKit seems to be doing at least some of that, rejecting some of the more invasive new web APIs. Why does my browser ever need to know my battery status?
charcircuit 1y ago
I don't understand why anyone would bother forking Firefox when forking Chromium is available which is more advanced and more modular. >or a new opensource browser Brave browser fulfills that role. https://brave.com/compare/firefox-vs-brave/ https://brave.com/compare/firefox-vs-brave/
- throwaway60397 1y ago
  > I don't understand why anyone would bother forking Firefox when forking Chromium is available which is more advanced and more modular. No uBlock is a deal breaker. Chromium is stuck with the neutered uBlock Lite thanks to Manifest V3. > Brave browser fulfills that role Sure, and it's also funded by VC money. How long until the vultures start swooping in to get a return on their investiment?
  - charcircuit 1y ago
    >No uBlock is a deal breaker. Why? If a browser is able to performantly and accurately block ads, why should the exact extention matter. >and it's also funded by VC money Which allowed them to properly invest into building out the browser and search engine. >return on their investiment? Controlling the home page / search of a web browser is extremely valuable.
Eisenstein 1y ago
Brave is such a browser but seeing as it is backed by Thiel's VC money and involves a crypto monetization incentive for the user (which can easily be turned off, btw) it evokes strong emotions in people who are rightly averse to such things. However, it does do pretty much everything privacy advocates ask for as soon as you turn off a few settings. I use it and would recommend it for people who want a anti-tracking, anti-ad browser if you can live with the drama around it.
ipaddr 1y ago
Many forks exist like LibreWolf
- account42 1y ago
  LibreWolf isn't a real fork. It's a patch set on top of firefox, meaning they are still beholden to any design decisions in the upstream project that can't easily be patched out.
MrAlex94 1y ago
I’ve been running Waterfox[1] for over 14 years and it’s as popular as ever. 1: https://www.waterfox.net https://www.waterfox.net
- account42 1y ago
  And the first screenshot on that website shows Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, etc. Real privacy champions.
  - MrAlex94 1y ago
    At the end of the day, before implementing support for streaming services via DRM, this was the most requested feature. Privacy is a sliding scale and the idea that it's absolute privacy or nothing else isn't helpful IMO. If people want that, they should use Tor as nothing comes close.

mattl 1y ago

WebKit seems to be doing at least some of that, rejecting some of the more invasive new web APIs. Why does my browser ever need to know my battery status?

charcircuit 1y ago

I don't understand why anyone would bother forking Firefox when forking Chromium is available which is more advanced and more modular. >or a new opensource browser Brave browser fulfills that role. https://brave.com/compare/firefox-vs-brave/ https://brave.com/compare/firefox-vs-brave/

throwaway60397 1y ago
> I don't understand why anyone would bother forking Firefox when forking Chromium is available which is more advanced and more modular. No uBlock is a deal breaker. Chromium is stuck with the neutered uBlock Lite thanks to Manifest V3. > Brave browser fulfills that role Sure, and it's also funded by VC money. How long until the vultures start swooping in to get a return on their investiment?
- charcircuit 1y ago
  >No uBlock is a deal breaker. Why? If a browser is able to performantly and accurately block ads, why should the exact extention matter. >and it's also funded by VC money Which allowed them to properly invest into building out the browser and search engine. >return on their investiment? Controlling the home page / search of a web browser is extremely valuable.

Eisenstein 1y ago

Brave is such a browser but seeing as it is backed by Thiel's VC money and involves a crypto monetization incentive for the user (which can easily be turned off, btw) it evokes strong emotions in people who are rightly averse to such things. However, it does do pretty much everything privacy advocates ask for as soon as you turn off a few settings. I use it and would recommend it for people who want a anti-tracking, anti-ad browser if you can live with the drama around it.

ipaddr 1y ago

Many forks exist like LibreWolf

account42 1y ago
LibreWolf isn't a real fork. It's a patch set on top of firefox, meaning they are still beholden to any design decisions in the upstream project that can't easily be patched out.

MrAlex94 1y ago

I’ve been running Waterfox[1] for over 14 years and it’s as popular as ever. 1: https://www.waterfox.net https://www.waterfox.net

account42 1y ago
And the first screenshot on that website shows Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, etc. Real privacy champions.
- MrAlex94 1y ago
  At the end of the day, before implementing support for streaming services via DRM, this was the most requested feature. Privacy is a sliding scale and the idea that it's absolute privacy or nothing else isn't helpful IMO. If people want that, they should use Tor as nothing comes close.