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Re: Default Browser

 

My personal vote is for Firefox and I will tell you why:

The perfect default browser is one such that everyone will be capable of
using it without requiring to replace it.  This, in a perfect world, would
be a simple decision, but we must consider at least two attributes of each
browser: speed and compatibility.

I am sure no one would disagree that Midori or even Chromium represent very
fast browsers and even lightweight ones in the case of Midori.
Unfortunately, the web has not adapted to these new browsers as plugins
still will crash in these browsers (Looks at Flash) and some websites will
render incorrectly.  These two problems often necessitates the need to have
a "backup" browser that more websites are compatible with.  On Linux, that
backup browser has to be Firefox.

The fatal flaw with Midori and Chromium is that they necessitate the use of
a different browser and I think any reasonable inclusion of one of these
would necessitate the inclusion of Firefox for websites that one of these
does not render correctly.  I think that just including one of these would
be a big mistake because no one wants a default browser which does not
browse.  That would be a major complaint.

On the other side of the equation, if you include Firefox, anyone who does
not bother to change their browser gets to use the most compatible browser
for the web right now.  If someone wants to use one of the lighter
alternatives for most of their browsing, they can easily install it and they
will be able to have Firefox to browse websites that do not work.

TL;DR:

   - If you include Firefox as default, people who just want a browser that
   works gets that.


   - If you include Firefox as default, people who want a faster browser for
   most of their browsing can easily install that and still have Firefox ready
   to go when their favorite browser struggles on that incompatible web page.


   - If you include Midori or Chromium, people who just want a browser will
   likely find pages that do not work correctly.


   - If you include Midori or Chromium, people who like their faster
   browsers are happy, but when they encounter a web page that is not
   compatable they will either have to forget that web page or install Firefox.


*Conclusion: *Include Firefox because it will avoid the worst possible
outcome without inconveniencing people who want to use a lighter browser for
most of their experience too much.

On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 1:55 PM, Julien Lavergne <gilir@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Le lundi 01 février 2010 à 10:30 -0500, Dwain Sims a écrit :
> > Browsers (especially) are almost like religion.
> Religion for advanced users, others just want something to display
> Internet pages.
>
> Regards,
> Julien Lavergne
>
>
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