Video announcement by Chris Wanstrath (GitHub co-founder) of the 501© non-profit and $1,000,000 donation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9edTqPMX_k
We don’t have anyone actively working on Windows support, […] We would like to do Windows eventually, but it’s not a priority at the moment.
As much as I applaud this focus on just one broad OS architecture, as it will greatly speed development, leaving out Windows is likely to cut off 85-90% of all early adopters. I just hope that the benefit of a simplified target will outweigh ignoring the vast majority of the market.
And honestly, methinks they should focus on Haiku OS before Windows, as it is closer to a Unix heritage than Windows is. And Haiku OS desperately needs a native modern web browser with all the bells and whistles.
I will never understand why people name stuff just by opening an English dictionary and simply picking a word.
Also why start a browser with C++? Google and Mozilla don’t employ nincompoops to work on their browsers and still say 70% of their CVEs are due to memory management errors from C++. Instead of learning from that, they start yet another browser in C++.
In theory it great that this org wants to make an alternative, and probably being funded by a millionaire (billionaire?) can’t hurt, but C++ man? Come on…
From.the FAQ
Why build a new browser in C++ when safer and more modern languages are available? Ladybird started as a component of the SerenityOS hobby project, which only allows C++. The choice of language was not so much a technical decision, but more one of personal convenience. Andreas was most comfortable with C++ when creating SerenityOS, and now we have almost half a million lines of modern C++ to maintain.
However, now that Ladybird has forked and become its own independent project, all constraints previously imposed by SerenityOS are no longer in effect. We are actively evaluating a number of alternatives and will be adding a mature successor language to the project in the near future. This process is already quite far along, and prototypes exist in multiple languages.
It’s crazy that SerenityOS decided to re-write their everything from scratch, to suit them. I wish I coukd do that too, but I don’t have the resources.
I hadn’t seen that, thanks! That gives me a little hope.
I will never understand why people name stuff just by opening an English dictionary and simply picking a word
Naming stuff is hard.
Yeah, but not that hard.
- La bird
- BB.Bird (baby bird)
- Birdanzo
- Lanzango
- Chicbee
- Elburd (el bird)
- Birday
- Bowsun
- Baysen
- Lirsi
- Slay BC
You can even put effort into it and look for translations in other languages, combine them, use a colloquialism not found in the standard dictionary, or so many other things.
Agree with naming laziness. Ladybird is the name of a Lady Bug. Sick to death of things being named after animals. It’s a computer program not a living entity, it has no gender either. Even a nonsense word would be preferable to this mess. Lets call it Zalyo. No one else has that made up word, easy to search.
I don’t mind the name, but if we’re throwing out wishlist names, I vote for “‘Zombo,’ the browser where you can do anything!”
You mean Zombo-com?
Yeah, except the browser has an internal DNS that redirects all traffic to https://zombo.com/
I mean, it is nice to have options. However, a first alpha release in 2026? That’s more than a year away. A lot of stuff will happen until then, not unlikely that this gets stomped before that.
How exactly would it “get stomped”, and by whom?
By whom is by google. How I don’t know how to answer
Yeah… It’s going to take a whole lot more than $1m for this. I am skeptical.
Also not super enthused about another browser written in C++. I skimmed some of their code and it seems pretty high quality, but still… this is going to be chock full of security bugs.
Servo is definitely the more interesting project.
They’re already exploring other languages. C++ just happens be its origin by way of its heritage. It’s not their target anymore.
Ultimately, we’ll see what happens. I agree that $1mil isn’t a ton for a big project, but we don’t know, yet, if they’ll be able to secure other big donations or not over the course of its life. People have sold stupider ideas to potential donors, so who knows?
Also not super enthused about another browser written in C++. I skimmed some of their code and it seems pretty high quality, but still… this is going to be chock full of security bugs.
If you are going to do anything stability-based these days, Rust should be a big consideration.
Chris Wanstrath … $1,000,000 donation
So… not independent then.
The website claims that sponsors have no direct influence on the project (“board seats are not for sale”). The reality is that no project of sufficient scale to fully implement web standards can survive without a significant amount of funding.
Meanwhile on their website:
Chris Wanstrath (Secretary & Treasurer)
from the FAQ
- How can you be “independent” if you have sponsors?
- All sponsorships are in the form of unrestricted donations. Board seats and other forms of influence are not for sale.
The threat of losing future donations if you upset a sponsor is still coercive.
(sad part is even if they sold out, they’d still be leagues ahead of the compromises Firefox and Chrome have made)
I do not understand how folks like you get so shitty about Firefox taking Google money for making it a default search engine when that is the very clear, very limited extent of their relationship. This is the definition of “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” Because Firefox is pretty damn near perfect. I feel like I have to be missing something here.
What is the issue here? What compromises have they made that make them so irredeemable? If it’s the search default for google that’s just not sufficient IMO.
- arguing for internet censorship
- a non-profit that has increased the salary of their CEO 400% while their market share drops 85% and they lay off 250 workers
- CPO is suing them for potential discrimination
- just bought Anonym, a full on advertising company
- blocking anti-censorship addons at Russia’s request
- buying into the AI hype
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I am pro deplatforming.
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I need to look into the finances more before drawing a conclusion. Not a good look at face value though.
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let’s see the suit play out, but also concerning
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don’t know enough about anonym but acquiring an ad-focused company is hardly an indictment
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they reversed course on the Russia issue so that’s not an issue and should make you feel better. Their reasoning was also legitimate, even so good on them for realizing it was the wrong - if well intentioned - decision.
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everyone is exploring AI who gives a shit. They’ve hardly forced it down our throats like everyone else.
With all of this in mind i’m down to be critical but this is not enough to warrant the hate.
“I’m not mad, I’m just … disappointed.”
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I thought this was the meta logo for a second.
Which immediately makes me asks which codes Firefox takes from Google
Firefox is dependent on Google financially, not codeually.
“codeually” 😆
Well obviously they’re an expert in nameology.
Thanks!
Google pays Firefox a lot of money to make it the default search engine. It also takes like three clicks to swap it to DDG or something you prefer. If I were Mozilla/Firefox, I would take the money too lol
Not a good first impression (other comments have my thoughts covered) and I think I’ll stick with Firefox.
Unless they impress us by re-writing it in a quality-first language, and make all configuration declarative, and drop support for some cruft. They’re going to have to try something bold and different to impress me, otherwise, this seems like more of the same, and an uphill battle at that.
