Web Browsers (AGAIN)

Elive System Installed
#1

Doing this Again i.e bringing up the browsers for the umpteenth time. :shocked:

Seeing how clhearly Mozilla has become a subsidiary entity of Google ...... How long can we keep pretending we're not affected by it?
The browser is the most important part of any OS (almost an OS in itself) making our life easier on the net. Which raises the question:
What browser should we want and what should Elive offer by default?

Personally I think we have only 2 options.

  1. Build our own using Webkit
  2. Use Tor.browser and flaunt that fact as a security (i.e ultimate user-friendly) choice.

I'd be quite interested to hear all your ideas and remarks on this issue.

BTW this post is done using Tor Browser (arm64) on the PineBookPro with Manjaro installed......so even there, it can be done as on 32 or 64 bit Intel muck.

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PineBookPro screenshot using TorBrowser

#2

Ofcourse Tor Browser!! Goes without saying. It is firefox under the hood and is stable and private.

1 Like
#3

Tor browser definitely. My only troubles are speed (acceptable for the obvious improvements), migrating to the browser from Firefox (transferring cookies), and it annoys me how it defaults to Private Browsing all the time.

#4

There's many important points about the default browser:

  • it needs to be stable and compatible with websites
  • it needs to be fast
  • it needs to be light on resources (ram) which is probably the biggest issue in all the browsers
  • it needs to be compatible as much as possible (flash, java, youtube, Netflix, etc etc..)
  • it needs to have all the features needed of a browser

Now, let's see that us we can have preference for a privacity browser like Tor, but that's probably not the case of the average users, I think an average user just wants to use a known (familiarized) browser and compatible with its gmail and other things like extensions bla bla, also, most of normal users really wants to be tracked by google and these things (its a user-experience improvement in fact), like showing the wanted results etc...

Also, the easiest way to know "which" is the browser that users REALLY prefer to use is by looking the website statistics, what is the most commonly used browser that enters to the elive website? (this concept includes "interest on elive" and "the browser that -them- want and uses in their daily life in their default os"), which is:

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clearly chrome is the most used, so this one should be the default... for sure there can be alternative options to offer like how the installers asks which one to use but as a default seems like the chrome is the preferred by many reasons (and even more important are the first points listed, like the resources that consumes and the speed of it)

#5

Which just simply means:
Follow the mainstream, so called ease of use and give up what freedom you still have together with your personal data....real freedom doesn't come easy. :shocked:
I'm sorry but I find that very depressing.....what happened to the artist, someone who wanted to make the world a better place ???

If tor-browser is built in, in a clever way .... that just might make the difference!

2 Likes
#6

I personally recommend Brave browser. Its got all of the best parts of chrome(built on the v8 engine), and its way faster, and lighter on resources. It's also sexy, and it uses an encrypted cloud-sync technology to store your passwords. You don't need to "login" to the browser to sync your passwords across devices, you just use your sync code from your sync settings.

It also has a ton of settings for blocking ads, cookies, javascript, etc. so it's lots of fun to tinker with.

I do appreciate the TOR browser for top of the line privacy, but I will trade top of the line privacy for "pretty good" privacy and super speed and low resource usage any day =)

1 Like
#7

Hello @nikluz thanks for chipping in. Brave looked to be promising a while back but .....
There was some controversy on Brave browser concerning their "get paid to surf" option which seemed like a way to hoard and sell data.
I haven't checked if it has been resolved yet.
I'm not sure how Brave is owned or run .... i'll take a look again given enough time. :smiley_cat:
Either way, I think it's good to bear in mind that free stuff can only be free if it is a community effort ....... be very vigilant if business entities offer freebies.

#8

Ahh yes, I remember that:

I have no idea. :nanana:

Just checked. Brave is open-source so I'm sure it would be all over the web if they're tracking. So for me it's (mostly) resolved. (I still don't know how they make their money. Ads are NOT a money-maker these days (unless you've got enough)!)

You said it well, @triantares:

Oh, just remembered!

They also have support for Tor in private browsing mode....something to look into???

#9

Well that actually isn't a guarantee. Any public enterprise can be bought, willingly or not.

definitely. :likeaboss:

#10

Tor is fine, sure - but not everyones cup of coffee...
The lack of speed is a big minus for being a browser by default...

I have Pale Moon in scope for a longer while now
and methinks that this one is the most compatible browser for Elive - especially the concept and ideology is very close to the Elive mind.

If am not wrong

2 Likes
#11

what do u mean? I am not updated about this.

For sure not chrome derivatives. I used it once during the last days thinking "it cannot be that bad come on"... did not change my usage style compared to when i use firefox, and boom after about an hour i saw the mouse stutterig. Guess? Ram -> 3,5/3,78gb full, swap -> 1,6 gb CPU -> 1 core costantly at 100%. WTF???

True

agreed

I think the best choice is firefox. Mainstream enough to make every average user feel at home, simple, stable, pretty much trustable and not too much resource intensive unlike chrome (not the lightest, but i never ran out of ram using firefox, unlike chrome).
Most people would be weirded out seeing uncommon browsers like brave and Tor, and they simply do not care. It may be an option, indeed, tho the ones that would actually care will just download it by theirselves.

1 Like
#12

Mozilla is kept alive mainly by Google through large donations.
They have to keep some sort of farce alive that they're not a monopolist, after all.

Whatever M$ did, Google will do it 10x worse.

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#13

That's sad D: I did not know it!
I'm quite upset firefox cannot live on its own :confused: It's been my fav browser since when i quitted IE11

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#14

Planet Elive citizen

There is one imposter among us

:stuck_out_tongue: :madness:

1 Like
#15

:joy: :joy:
Well i never kept my relation with Windows hidden after all :stuck_out_tongue:
My life is based 60% on Debian and 40% on Windows.
The Windows side it's almost only for games, editing (Stupid adobe products) and Arduino (so many drivers problems on Linux with not official boards).
Moved my whole family to Debian already tho!

1 Like
#16

Especially for older and weak equipped machines is
Midori ( Midori Browser - Astian )
a good option;
chrome based nowadays, very quick with a small footprint.
Plays YouTube but not Netflix - and so what..
Multiple platform support and i386 plus amd64 releases as well.
Worth a trial, I like it.

Cheers

#17

I do not agree here - imo they are even
:rofl2:

But Big G is far more sweet, at least delivering useful stuff,
than the mf MickeyMouse morons...

Ah, let's complete the reign of suckers:
Amazon
Apple (since Steve ha s gone)
eBay
PayPal (the worst bullshit on earth yet)
VW
German politicans
Trump
... but :offtopic: :spammer:

2 Likes