OS Information’ managing editor calls Firefox “the only most vital desktop Linux software,” delivery in most distros (with some customers later choosing a post-installation obtain of Chrome).
However “I am genuinely fearful concerning the state of browsers on Linux, and the way forward for Firefox on Linux particularly…”
Whereas each GNOME and KDE nominally put money into their very own two browsers, GNOME Internet and Falkon, their uptake is restricted and releases few and much between. As an example, not one of the main Linux distributions ship GNOME Internet as their default browser, and it lacks most of the options customers come to anticipate from a browser. Falkon, in the meantime, is up to date solely sporadically, usually going years between releases. Worse but, Falkon makes use of Chromium via QtWebEngine, and GNOME Internet makes use of WebKit (that are up to date individually from the browser, so browser releases aren’t at all times a stable metric!), so each are depending on the goodwill of two of probably the most ruthless companies on this planet, Google and Apple respectively.
Even Firefox itself, regardless that it is clearly the browser of selection of distributions and Linux customers alike, doesn’t take into account Linux a first-tier platform. Firefox is at first a Home windows browser, adopted by macOS second, and Linux third. The love the Linux world has for Firefox just isn’t reciprocated by Mozilla in the identical manner, and this exhibits in varied locations the place points fastened and addressed on the Home windows aspect are ignored on the Linux aspect for years or longer. The most effective and most seen instance of that’s {hardware} video acceleration. This characteristic has been a default a part of the Home windows model since without end, but it surely wasn’t enabled by default for Linux till Firefox 115, launched solely in early July 2023. Even then, the characteristic is just enabled by default for customers of Intel graphics — AMD and Nvidia customers needn’t apply. This lack of video acceleration was — and for AMD and Nvidia customers, nonetheless is — a serious contributing issue to Linux battery life on laptops taking a severe hit in comparison with their Home windows counterparts… It is not simply {hardware} accelerated video decoding. Gesture assist has taken for much longer to reach on the Linux model than it did on the Home windows model — issues like utilizing swipes to return and ahead, or pinch to zoom on photographs…
I do not see anybody speaking about this drawback, or planning for the eventual potential demise of Firefox, what that might imply for the Linux desktop, and the way it may be averted or mitigated. In a super world, the most important stakeholders of the Linux desktop — KDE, GNOME, the varied main distributions — would get collectively and significantly take into account a plan of motion. The very best answer, for my part, can be to fork one of many main browser engines (or choose one and considerably put money into it), and modify this engine and tailor it particularly for the Linux desktop. Cease dwelling off the scraps and leftovers thrown throughout the fence from Home windows and macOS browser makers, and focus solely on making a browser engine that’s optimised totally for Linux, its graphics stack, and its desktops. Have the most important stakeholders work collectively on a Linux-first — and even Linux-only — browser engine, leaving the graphical front-end to the varied toolkits and desktop environments….
I believe it is extremely irresponsible of the varied outstanding gamers within the desktop Linux group, from GNOME to KDE, from Ubuntu to Fedora, to seemingly have completely zero contingency plans for when Firefox enshittifies or dies…
