In light of Mozilla’s recent policy changes, we no longer feel assured that Firefox aligns with our commitment to protect your privacy. This prompted us to revisit the choice of default web browser in Zorin OS 17.3.

  • @[email protected]
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    136 hours ago

    A bad move. But again i hate that many distros have a default browser and they don’t let you choose.

  • @[email protected]
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    169 hours ago

    one of the worst distros ever so I guess this is pretty obvious choice and telling to some.

    • @[email protected]
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      47 hours ago

      Define worst? It does what it says, it’s an easy stable distro for windows refugees. Slow updates doesn’t make something bad

  • @[email protected]
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    1510 hours ago

    the everyday linux distro that is famous for asking people for money for their pro version, cause they know most of the userbase is coming from windows and doesnt know that everything is free?

    • @[email protected]
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      6 hours ago

      They don’t force you to buy anything. Almost all distros have a donation button on their site/git.

      Nothing wrong with supporting projects you adore.

      • @[email protected]
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        36 hours ago

        Ubuntu asks for money for their “pro” version.

        It’s a big reason why I switched to Debian.

        • @[email protected]
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          26 hours ago

          Once again like Zorin, it isn’t required to use the base version. Projects take time and effort, support is optional. Debian also has a donation page gonna distrohop now too?

          • @[email protected]
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            6 hours ago

            You keep ignoring the “pro” version aspect of this.

            Debian doesn’t lock features or updates behind paywalls. It’s not just about asking for donations.

            • @[email protected]
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              16 hours ago

              What does zorin lock behind the pro version? Some themes that you could make yourself if you wanted. And they package some apps that you could manualy download. What updates are you refering to?

              • @[email protected]
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                6 hours ago

                Why lock anything behind a paywall? They do it to take advantage of users who don’t know any better. Otherwise, they would just ask for donations.

                Why are you defending scummy practices? Are you a shill, fanboy, or useful idiot?

                • @[email protected]
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                  36 hours ago

                  Nah people just frame it as if you need to buy it, while that’s not true. No I’m not defending scummy practices, I’m just pro supporting software that you enjoy. That people like you can’t handle others opinions and immediately resort to calling it “fanboy or useful idiot.” The world doesn’t need to be a copy pasta of opinions

          • @[email protected]
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            16 hours ago

            There is a difference between a donation and a purchase. You can buy Ubuntu Pro like Zorin Pro. Its not free

  • @[email protected]
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    2416 hours ago

    “we replaced the browser with ad ware, that we even admit we had to ship settings to minimise its malware effect”

  • @[email protected]
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    401 day ago

    Brave marketing has gone crazy to convince people it’s less dodgy than Firefox. Come on!

  • arsCynic
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    521 day ago

    They should’ve picked LibreWolf which ships with uBlock Origin. Brave is a disappointing choice because it supports multi-level marketing pyramid schemes which says enough about their moral compass.


    ✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

    • @[email protected]
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      36 hours ago

      I kinda dislike the default LibreWolf settings. Unsure if they changed it, but I remember that you have no history except you change it in the settings.

      A Windows refugee wants a history. Addituonally, many pages just dont work.

      My University also does capture a picture and reads it from the Canvas or something, which LibreWolf blocks. It doesnt show again if something is okay or wrong. I just got a Mail that I need to reupload it and go by myself to pickup my University-Card.

      I wasnt the only one as Informatics has many Linux users and some Librewolf users.

  • @[email protected]
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    1021 day ago

    “Mozilla has a bit been shady lately, so we are making the difficult decision to change our default browser to something significantly more shady. We are confident our users will feel safer knowing their data is in even worse hands than before"

  • juipeltje
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    351 day ago

    Seems like a strange choice. If anything i would’ve expected them to just use a firefox fork or something.

    • @[email protected]
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      716 hours ago

      Zen is literally the best browser around right now, I do understand the UI isn’t for everybody but if you vibe with it, it rocks

  • @[email protected]
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    1 day ago

    I’m actually not familiar with this distro. But if I installed a Linux distro, and it had brave installed. I would immediately switch.

    • @[email protected]
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      101 day ago

      Brave is a fairly recent outlier, and while it isn’t quite proprietary, it stinks a fair bit of something capitalist/crypto.

  • enkers
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    1622 days ago

    While FF’s evil quotient has been on the rise, Brave definitely isn’t a better option. If anything, librewolf is the way to go.

    • @[email protected]
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      472 days ago

      As a Librewolf user I wouldn’t make it default for casual users this kind of distro is aiming for. Sure enabling logins to use it as a main browser is piss easy, but that’s still more work than the average person wants to put into setting up their system.

      Waterfox would be the better choice since it’s just default Firefox in every way besides Mozilla’s spyware.

      • @[email protected]
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        16 hours ago

        Ugh. Why can’t designers recognize they don’t need to do things different just for the sake of being different?

        I guess it’s what makes them bad designers.

      • @[email protected]
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        121 day ago

        there’s Zen also. that also has normie defaults, however the drastically changed UI/Uxmight not be for everyone.

      • tuckerm
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        172 days ago

        Agreed, I wouldn’t recommend Librewolf for casual users. I understand why Librewolf makes those decisions, and I’m glad that it exists, but you definitely run into some quirks when using it. I’m thinking about switching from Librewolf to Waterfox myself.

    • @[email protected]
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      292 days ago

      Doesn’t Librewolf log you out of every site when you close it, by default? I don’t think that’s a good default

      • enkers
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        2 days ago

        That is the default behaviour, but it’s pretty trivial to change. Also, I’d imagine the distro maintainer could choose to change the default settings as part of a post-install script, if they wanted to.

        Edit: Not sure why you’re being downvoted, as I do think it’s a valid concern.

      • @[email protected]
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        142 days ago

        It has to be the default tho, bc the whole point of Librewolf is that it’s trying to by default be untraceable and private.

        It’s very easy to disable that and re-enable cookies and the like, but your default experience will fundamentally be private, which is its goal

        • enkers
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          132 days ago

          That’s not the only point though. IIRC, they also remove telemetry, and pocket as well as some other things. I personally turn back on persistent sessions and history, but leave all the other privacy features there.

          • @[email protected]
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            41 day ago

            I personally turn back on persistent sessions and history

            I did as well.

            My point is just that it makes sense to be the default in that browser given its inclination towards privacy.

        • @[email protected]
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          82 days ago

          Ok but like, that makes a terrible default for Zorin OS users. They’re gonna be confused and think it’s some hot garbage

    • @[email protected]
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      2 days ago

      What’s wrong with Brave?

      • Based on Chromium so good web support
      • Decent privacy
      • Built-in adblock
      • Easy to customize
      • Open Source

      It’s the browser I’ve chosen to use after getting fed up w/ Gecko’s terrible web compatibility these days (coming from Librewolf).

      What’s wrong with it? How is it evil?

      • tuckerm
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        372 days ago

        The thing I dislike about Brave is that Brave intends to be an advertising company. Brave’s original idea for revenue was that the browser itself should be the ad platform. Brave doesn’t block ads because it has a pro-user manifesto; it blocks ads because it dislikes competition.

        That’s why it makes no sense for people to abandon Firefox for Brave. I understand the backlash against Mozilla’s recent ad-focused shift, but Brave invented that idea. So leaving Firefox for Brave is not an improvement.

        It’s the browser I’ve chosen to use after getting fed up w/ Gecko’s terrible web compatibility these days (coming from Librewolf).

        I’m curious about what those compatibility issues are. It’s been years since I’ve noticed any problems – and back when I was seeing problems, it was mainly because Google could afford to implement new standards faster than Mozilla could, not because Mozilla was doing anything wrong. Could it have been because of Librewolf? Librewolf has a ton of privacy-focused settings that can sometimes make pages behave in strange ways. (It doesn’t use your real time zone, it ignores dark mode, it lies about which OS you’re on, and it constantly clears your cookies to name a few.)

        And on a meta-note: I dislike Brave, but I don’t think the parent here is a comment that needs to be downvoted. We can just explain why Brave is a bad idea.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 day ago

          Could it have been because of Librewolf?

          Some issues definitiely were, but I also noticed issues when going back to regular Firefox and on Firefox mobile and Mull (which is sorta like Librewolf principles but for FF Mobile).

          it was mainly because Google could afford to implement new standards faster than Mozilla could

          I think that’s exactly what happens.

          It definitely wasn’t Firefox’s fault for the compat issues.

          Websites would work for months, and then one day only work in Chromium browsers. Sometimes they’d come back. Sometimes only parts would fail. Sometimes they’d never come back. These sites were changing things and breaking Gecko compatibility, but never Blink compatibility. I’d try turning off all the privacy settings, disabling ad blockers and extensions too, but nothing could fix it except using a Blink browser.

          So I don’t blame Firefox/Librewolf for this, but it also means I suddenly couldn’t, say, access my loan payment as an example in Firefox. That’s one that broke. I need that to work. It works in Chrome, but not in FF (actually I think it came back to working in FF eventually)

          I was always having to have 2 browsers installed, Firefox-based for most things and a Chromium-based backup.

          One day I realize that it doesn’t make sense to use a FF-based browser, since if I have to have a Chromium-based backup anyway, I might as well just use a Chromium browser. I didn’t want to use a it, I’m generally against it Blink, but I feel that Gecko has already lost the war. I have no choice. FF is not long for this world

      • enkers
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        2 days ago

        Asides from the kinda-shady crypto stuff and the other things that’ve already been mentioned, just philosophically it should be kinda evident that over-concentration on one corporate controlled rendering engine isn’t a good thing. Google wants the internet to be a walled garden with themselves as the sole decision makers so they can stuff ads down your throat.

        Gecko’s web compat is bad largely because of this over-concentration.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 day ago

          just philosophically it should be kinda evident that over-concentration on one corporate controlled rendering engine isn’t a good thing

          Totally with you on that point.

          However, I feel now that Gecko has already lost. I was a long-time FF and later Librewolf user, but Websites don’t care to support FF as much, so I’d have important sites break. I’d have to have a Chromium-based backup anyway.

          So I’ve now given up on that from. I have no real choice but to use Blink in some capacity.

      • Jakob Fel
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        42 days ago

        What’s wrong is that we’re on the Fediverse and many here write off Brave because the founder is “homophobic” because he’s a conservative Christian. Sure, they make up all sorts of shallow justifications like “it’s a crypto scam” but it definitely boils down to the “homophobic” whining.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 day ago

          Found Brendan Eich’s sockpuppet :)

          A conservative can’t be a Christian, and vice versa. Jesus was absolutely clear: He cares as much about the sex of who you sleep with as He does about the fabric of your underwear. Hatred is never justified.

          Homophobia is a plenty good reason not to use a browser. Eich is an unscrupulous person at best, and his name leaves a stink on any project he is involved with. Unsurprising that Brave has decided to embrace the crypto fad and is moving towards becoming an ad platform.

          Brave is a scammy project founded by a scummy person. I’m not sure FOSS development can fix that as long as he is in charge.

          • Jakob Fel
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            21 day ago

            Read the Bible. Even the apostle Paul reiterates that it’s sinful.

            As I said before, it all comes down to the “homophobia” argument. No good reasons, just a hatred of its founder. Pretty sad, if you ask me.

            • @[email protected]
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              1 day ago

              To take that passage (Romans 1) and to interpret it to mean that Homosexuality should be persecuted is to ignore Jesus’ lessons in favor of one’s own hatred. That’s not Christian at all. It also ignores the rest of Romans.

              • Jakob Fel
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                117 hours ago

                Again, read the Bible. That’s all I’ll say because it’s obvious to me that you’ve probably only read scraps through third parties within the context of progressive “Christianity”.

                • @[email protected]
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                  16 hours ago

                  You’ve got me wrong, but do what you think is best.

                  A comprehensive reading involves slowing down and taking context into account. It was included for a reason.