“OMG this is crazy but in light of the looming Google antitrust stuff did y’all realize there are other browsers out there??”
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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realize there are other browsers out there?
You meant search engines?
Ya there’s only 2 types of browsers :( chromium and Firefox based. There’s a total monopoly on that
Safari (webkit) and there are two currently trying to get into existence
What other two are there?
There are several browsers, but the hard part being discussed here is the browser engine. The current promising up and comers are LibWeb for Ladybird and Servo which is now under management of the Linux Foundation; super exciting.
But as far as just browsers, I recommend the Firefox fork, zen browser. The interface is fantastic.
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Well there's Ladybird which is open source and uses its own browser engine. Can't seem to remember or find the other one though, but this one is more mature iirc
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Well, Safari (Webkit) too but nobody likes that one.
Btw, Google's Blink is based on Webkit which is based on KDE's KHTML. Else, there is Gecko (Firefox) and was Trident (MS Internet Explorer). Oh, and QtWebkit but it's slow in JS.
GNOME Web (formerly known as Epiphany) also uses the Safari WebKit.
Of all the things I care about in a search engine, “social impact” has got to be near the bottom.
That they’re touting this as the selling point tells me they’re trying to distract from the real motive.
Ecosia goes beyond [just] data protection by addressing environmental concerns. Every search made through the search engine contributes to tree-planting projects worldwide, helping to combat deforestation and regenerate the planet. Ecosia planted over 215 million trees, across the planet biodiversity hotspots, making a tangible difference in the fight against climate change. Just like Mozilla, they are committed to creating a better internet, and world, for everyone.
I don't really see the big deal. And while it may be bottom of the list for you, I'm sure others might like the tree-planting thing. From what I can gather with a quick search, they actually do it properly, too, not just planting an ecologically dead monoculture of trees.
And yeah there's an "ulterior motive", although it's not really the evil scheming you're making it sound like. Ecosia paid Mozilla to include them, so now Mozilla has included them as a search option. It's one of the few ways Mozilla can get revenue, because people sure won't pay for a browser these days.
This selling point is not important to you because you're not part of Mozilla's target market. Mozilla already has the 2% of the internet that hangs out on Lemmy. They're pursuing some of the remaining 98%.
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Please tell me I overlooked in the press release the link to what they are talking about.
It sounds like Firefox will have a new default search engine soon
I think that's very unlikely; this PR was delivered pretty much word-for-word with a different partner earlier this year: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox-partners-with-qwant/
imo this is just your standard PR announcement of a partnership between two known entities which will get people talking before they forget about it
google aint giving mozilla money anymore?
It’s proposed, but yes
it prohibits Google from paying to make its search engine the default for third parties, causing pain not just for Alphabet but for others.
Google pays billions annually to Apple and Mozilla to remain the default search engine in Safari and Firefox.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/21/usa_vs_google_full_filing/
Ecosia sounds like a company worth supporting. I wish they'd offer a paid, ad-free plan.
How does it compare to Kagi, anyone used both?
Haven't used kagi, but ecosia is another bing fronted.
It's duckduckgo, but the profits from the ads are used to plant trees.
If you need/want something like kagi, only kagi exists at the moment. There is nothing comparable in quality and features
If you still want to throw some money at them, they have a store where you can buy some merch and plant a tree
Kagi seems like a circus. Search quality? It's interesting. Worth supporting? Up to you, but know that your money will still go to actual search result providers first, and what's left goes to people who care more about shirts than privacy.
Quality is pretty good though. Have been using it for about a year. I'd like to find a non-profit search and pay for that instead though. Ecosia comes close in some regards but I don't see an ad-free option.
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I switched from Kagi to Qwant because they'll be collabing with Ecosia on their own index. Quality of results is, sadly, worse (uBlacklist helps somewhat), but I don't want to support Kagi because they're expanding their partnership with Yandex and funneling money to Kremlin.
Unless they make Ecosia the default search engine in Firefox, this is worthless.
This is preparation for that in case google loses its appeal and is forbidden to pay Firefox to be the default.
Am I wrong for hoping that happens?
Idk, on one hand I get what you mean. On the other hand, Firefox going away or being monetized in more aggressive ways will not be a good thing.
Honestly, I think I would prefer the lawsuit never happened and Google kept paying Firefox. Now, if Google loses, Firefox will likely head for enshitification. And if google wins, it sets terrible precedent :(
As long as we're making wish lists, I wish Mozilla beat Proton to the punch in making profitable, privacy-focused products. I'm willing to pay for privacy-friendly services (and I do pay for email), and that could go toward funding browser development.
But no, they'll flirt with it with whitelabel VPN and whatnot, but they won't commit.
Now, if Google loses, Firefox will likely head of enshitification.
The whole thing is FOSS. if the company goes over the community can still maintain it if they wish to
No, keeping up with new web standards, security, etc. is a full time job. It's not something volunteers can keep up with. At that point, it may be better to just give up and build on top of Chromium.
In addition, without enough market share, websites will not test, let alone optimize for your browser. This is already causing issues for Firefox. Smaller browser engines stand no chance.
And if Firefox changes to a chromium browser, I'm out. I'm here to support independent browser engines, beyond that, I don't care much about Mozilla.
Good luck. If Firefox changes to Blink, that’s it. Gecko won’t last long without the Mozilla Foundation footing the development bill. You get WebKit and Blink, nothing else.
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It's not in Firefox mobile.
Sure, I could probably find the URLs to add it in at a new custom search engine. But if you're gonna make such a bombastic announcement, I expect you to have the update ready beforehand.
Do they not realize that mobile is most Web traffic nowadays?
In that case, Aloha Browser implemented Ecosia eons ago which is a very popular mobile browser among Asians due to its ability to download video like the right-click contextual menus in desktop browsers… however, YouTube is an exception.
I'm trying to avoid Chromium clones altogether. I really don't like the engine quasi-monopoly we have and I don't want to participate in furthering it.
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That whole post they didn't even have one sentence that clearly states what theyre doing. I assume it's "now we'll make Ecosia one of the default choices".
After abandoning the fediverse.
They stopped running their own instance that almost nobody used. It's not the big deal you're making it out to be. They're still on the fediverse, they just won't be maintaining their own instance.
I don't even see why you think the two things are related.
Not necessarily complaining about mozilla's actions here, but did anyone actually get an opportunity to use their instance ? I thought I signed up to get an invite when they opened publicly but it never happened.
Lots of people have been saying they should focus more on developing Firefox rather than doing other things like partnering with Mullvad or whatever. There are already quite a few other fediverse instances.
Ecosia deserves all the support they can get!
Here's a suggestion that would show they care about their users and making the web a better place:
Give users the option to download firefox with adblockers pre-installed. Literally put them right next to the "normal" browser download and see which gets more hits.
because adblockers often lead to websites not working which would lead to non techie people complaining about firefox.
Not really.
Replace "often" with "exceedingly rarely" and you'd be more accurate, but then you can just be describing websites that don't work properly in general.
Cool stuff, now of Firefox didn't switch back to Google every major update or so, that would be great... because I actually do have Ecosia selected and need to switch back to it every once in a while because hey why not
I've never had my search engine change from an update, and I use it on Linux, Android, and macOS. I set mine to DDG years ago and it has never changed.
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