You must log in or register to comment.
Nice report on FF mods and forks.
To me things like Librewolf and Zen are FF mods, whereas Pale Moon and Basilisk are forks. Mods track the mainstream project, incorporating its updates. Forks say “Goodbye” and go on their own merry way. My 2 centavos.
Got a bunch of these on my computer (FF, mods: Firedragon, Floorp, Librewolf, Zen, ¿Agregore?; fork: Pale Moon) and Zen has been my mainstay since last autumn.
Also tried out a handful of non-FF-related browsers (Dillo, Falkon, Kristall, NetSurf, Servo). Falkon (using it now) seems to be the only one I can really use for proper web browsing. Servo is getting there. Netsurf and DIllo just don’t seem usable with the modern web.
I think I’ll keep Zen as my main web browser, and Pale Moon or Falkon as a lightweight backup or for special purposes (e.g. web radio). And keep an eye on Servo.
if firefox fails, that’s the end of the fork I may or may not use. so I dont use a fork
Firefox started as a fork of the Mozilla browser that was really good in its own right, got rid of bundled stuff people didn’t want from the previous project, gathered user and developer support, and caught on. Why shouldn’t a good fork of Firefox be able to do the same?
Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox was an in-house fork of Mozilla.
Back then browsers were still quite simple. today they are probably the most complex piece of software running on your machine - including the OS.
And the world supports many free and open source OSes, many of which have no present ties to or support by the people or organizations who started the things they were forked from.
I see no reason why the next big browser thing couldn’t be a Firefox fork.
Let’s hope so!
But the pessimist in me thinks nobody will do it again without craaaaazy investment behind them. Microsoft tried with edge and surrendered to chromium.
I seriously doubt that Apple and Google would succeed today.
Good to know that Mozillla finally clarified why they removed the “we don’t sell your data” promise as well as in what ways my data can be sold
