The Arc Browser Is Dead
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It’s dead and they’re replacing it with an AI-first browser. Gross.
If you want the main things Arc gives you (vertical tabs, tab groups), you can get them with Firefox or a Firefox spinoff like Librewolf.
They're obviously going for a zero adoption policy and trying to think of the most repulsive options
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No shit it died. They stopped supporting it and on top of it it’s a browser that requires you to be logged into an account to use, which is a turnoff to techie people who are the most likely to adopt nee things early.
Oh and Microsoft Edge can do most of the things Arc does.
When i left Chrome, one of the things I was looking for was vertical tabs and was willing to try anything. I wasn't fond of a mac first option, but I decided to try it. Installed it and the first thing it did was to force me to make an account, uninstalled it instantly.
I'm not against the option of having an account, but forcing it makes me distrust them. Was not long after that there were also some major security flaws found as well. They really didn't make it easy for people to change, almost like they thought the apple form over function would appeal more broadly.
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Firefox vertical tabs are lackluster though, you don't have pinned and essential tabs on FF, and you also miss out on Glance (the pop out link feature), basically the main features it copied from Arc. Honestly it's been very stable for me, and it's matured enough that I'd recommend giving it another shot.
You absolutely do have pinned tabs on FF. They go double column when you shrink down the sidebar, too, which I like. And they work with tab groups. Can't believe those took so long to steal from Chrome. Did support for groups get integrated into Zen as well? That's probably my line in the sand these days.
I was interested in the Glance concept, but I did not love the implementation. It was hard to tell when you were inside a Glance tab and I ended up struggling to deploy those into a persistent tab if I wanted to keep them for later. The idea was intriguing, but I never clicked with the details of the UX. It always took a little bit more thinking to work around than just... right clicking into new tab, I guess.
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It probably has something to do with being only available on Macs for so long.
Or them completely shifting development to their AI browser
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Isn’t kagi's point that they store very little about you to the point there no search history and you have to pay for the service provided?
If their code isn't open source, and your searches aren't encrypted in such a way that their logging of them isn't an option, why should you believe them? It's not like there's some precedence that corporations face any legitimate consequences for their crimes. Unless they steal from the wealthy, any consequences will be less than the profits from their crimes.
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Never heard of that thing, but apparently it was Apple exclusives? Deserved death then.
I'm hoping ladybug will be operational for mainstream use, before the enshittification of Firefox progresses too far.
It wasn't supposed to stay Apple exclusive. In fact, when I last used Windows there was a beta build out for Arc. However, there were also multiple Firefox styles in the CSS Store that made Firefox into Arc.
Then Zen Browser came out, and I'm currently watching it get very popular. I don't doubt that Zen Browser is one of the reasons Arc is shutting down. It's nearly an exact copy, but now with more features (and is constantly coming out with even more faster than Arc can think of them).
I'm excited for Ladybird as well, but I'm not expecting anything crazy when it comes out of alpha and beta. I fully expect to wait a bit, maybe download to contribute some troubleshooting, but it may not be viable as a main use browser for a long time yet.
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When I eventually managed to test Arc, I felt it was a very overhyped browser. I couldn't see what the fuss was about.
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Never heard of that thing, but apparently it was Apple exclusives? Deserved death then.
I'm hoping ladybug will be operational for mainstream use, before the enshittification of Firefox progresses too far.
Well that's shooting yourself in the damn foot.
Apple users are a tiny percentage, and most of the sort that happily uses whatever Apple gives them without question or concern for other options.
I have no idea what this thing did, but if it did something different than every other browser should start targeting Windows and Linux. -
Never heard of that thing, but apparently it was Apple exclusives? Deserved death then.
I'm hoping ladybug will be operational for mainstream use, before the enshittification of Firefox progresses too far.
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I remember i used to use Windows i didnt like that i couldnt test arc Browser on Windows Sandbox
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You absolutely do have pinned tabs on FF. They go double column when you shrink down the sidebar, too, which I like. And they work with tab groups. Can't believe those took so long to steal from Chrome. Did support for groups get integrated into Zen as well? That's probably my line in the sand these days.
I was interested in the Glance concept, but I did not love the implementation. It was hard to tell when you were inside a Glance tab and I ended up struggling to deploy those into a persistent tab if I wanted to keep them for later. The idea was intriguing, but I never clicked with the details of the UX. It always took a little bit more thinking to work around than just... right clicking into new tab, I guess.
The pinned tabs are closer to the essentials though that's the thing, it lacks that 2 layer separation based on purpose.
Wdym hard to tell you're in a glance tab? It's an overlayed smaller box, and the tab that has it open also gets an icon. Plus you never go into it accidentally, unless you're clicking on a link in an essential tab it's going to be manually entered.
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It wasn't supposed to stay Apple exclusive. In fact, when I last used Windows there was a beta build out for Arc. However, there were also multiple Firefox styles in the CSS Store that made Firefox into Arc.
Then Zen Browser came out, and I'm currently watching it get very popular. I don't doubt that Zen Browser is one of the reasons Arc is shutting down. It's nearly an exact copy, but now with more features (and is constantly coming out with even more faster than Arc can think of them).
I'm excited for Ladybird as well, but I'm not expecting anything crazy when it comes out of alpha and beta. I fully expect to wait a bit, maybe download to contribute some troubleshooting, but it may not be viable as a main use browser for a long time yet.
It'll be a great browser by 2029 IMO, and honestly that's not that long compared to the development time all other browsers have had.
We shall see, I'm excited to start testing it out next year when it's in Alpha
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So, no Windows, no Linux, no head?
There is a windows and mobile tab on their website
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That's very sad to hear. I am currently using Arc as my main browser for work (I am a web developer) since its launch on MacOS. Guess I need to switch browsers soon then...
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That's very sad to hear. I am currently using Arc as my main browser for work (I am a web developer) since its launch on MacOS. Guess I need to switch browsers soon then...
It's not dead. As far as I can tell the author just made that up, because they didn't cite any sources, and the actual official sources indicate otherwise. But I can recommend switching to Zen nonetheless.
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It'll be a great browser by 2029 IMO, and honestly that's not that long compared to the development time all other browsers have had.
We shall see, I'm excited to start testing it out next year when it's in Alpha
You can already test it out in very early alpha, but I can tell you now that it's just a portal with very basic browser controls. You'll have to build it through the Python script.
I built it through Arch already and its a working browser is about all I can really say about it. The little I tried of it works.
The instructions to build the early alpha are on the github page here.
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When I eventually managed to test Arc, I felt it was a very overhyped browser. I couldn't see what the fuss was about.
Yeah, I just don't trust people's recommendations of browsers.
Most of them are too stupid to realize what's going on and how they're being herded like sheep.
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Right, thanks!
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You can already test it out in very early alpha, but I can tell you now that it's just a portal with very basic browser controls. You'll have to build it through the Python script.
I built it through Arch already and its a working browser is about all I can really say about it. The little I tried of it works.
The instructions to build the early alpha are on the github page here.
I built it through arch
Just had to sneak that in, didn't you?
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Yeah, I just don't trust people's recommendations of browsers.
Most of them are too stupid to realize what's going on and how they're being herded like sheep.
What's your recommendation then?
