this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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What's arc
Browser: https://arc.net/
Yeah, not really seeing what this provides that I don't already get from Firefox. If it can get some people off Chrome or Safari that's good I guess, but at the end of the day is this just yet another Chromium based browser?
Yep, same. FF has been my go to browser for years
Genuinely don't comprehend why anyone uses anything other than Firefox. FF + uBlock makes the internet so much better
Can Firefox cast a full page yet to Chromecast yet?
Arc has uBlock installed by default. So that's not a differentiator between the two.
It certainly is a differentiator: uBlock Origin already works best on Firefox. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-works-best-on-Firefox
And when Manifest v3 is fully enforced in Chromium (current date is slated to be July 2024), then the more restricted uBlock Origin Lite would need to be used instead.
(I'm not sure if Arc will fully adopt v3, but they might not have a choice at some point in time.)
The Lite version still works well considering all the restrictions, but has a lot of limitations: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#issuecomment-1507539114
TL;DR: The way uBlock Origin works on Firefox right now is already better, but if Arc has to go along with Manifest v3 in Chromium in a few months, then it'll be even more of a differentiator.
It also looks like they're even thinking about rolling out their own tracker blocker (instead of using uBlock Origin) as a result of the Manifest v3 changes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/wiki/index/#wiki_how_will_arc_handle_the_transition_from_manifest_v2_to_manifest_v3.3F
https://twitter.com/joshm/status/1728926780600508716
Arc has a lot of unique features, but these three are funamental. It took me a couple months to adjust my browsing habits, and it has ruined me. I literally hate using any other browser now.
Arc syncs tabs between windows. This allows new workflows that just are not possible at all in any other browser. I have five windows open right now, all showing the same set of tabs (which are split into groups, so not all tabs are showing the same group... but some are the same group, for example I opened Sideberry in a new tab in the same group, but I'm reading it in another window). This also obviously syncs between devices, so your work desktop, laptop, phone, gaming pc at home... all have the same tabs. All the time.
Arc automatically closes tabs for you. That definitely takes getting used to, but once you do get used to it, it's awesome.
Finally, there are no bookmarks in Arc. Instead of bookmarks you can "pin" any tab which essentially disables auto-close for that tab. Unlike a bookmark, a tab doesn't contain a fixed URL. For example i have a Lemmy tab, which by default is the homepage but it could also be this discussion temporarily, then go back to being the homepage again later today.
Those three are tied together in a carefully thought out user interface, with a bunch of other nice little touches like the way audio/video is handled if you're not in the tab that's playing media right now.
There are other major features in Arc too - for example the URL bar is, well, not a URL bar at all. It's a command prompt where the default command happens to be "search the web/go to url". Arc also has a growing set of Large Language Model integrations that might pan out into something interesting one day. And it has some half-baked stuff for teams/collaboration which may or may not eventuate into something interesting.
Hmm, while that's very interesting, and I'm glad that works for you, nearly all of those things sound terrible to me, particularly that last point. Still all those behaviors seem achievable in Firefox using addons if that's actually what you wanted. The most trivial one is obviously auto-closing old tabs. There's already I believe a couple extensions that do exactly that. Syncing tabs between windows would also be pretty trivial, and FF already has the option to sync open tabs and windows between devices. The tab groups thing sounds a bit like profiles in Firefox although not quite. That one would probably require the most work to replicate.
At the end of the day though, any Chromium based browser is really just Chrome with different porcelain on top. Ultimately Google is still calling the shots there and Arc better be careful hitching their wagon to them. That could go very badly for them if they ever do become a big enough thorn in Google's side.
Yea, I'm not sold. Arc needs some better copy to convince me to try a browser based on Chrome that has such weird behaviour that I can't see any benefit to my usage.
On top of that, they want an email address to download.
Um, no, fuck you and your tracking.
That sounds shit.