this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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Free Software
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GPLv3 makes a company publish the source under the same license. That means no Vivaldi, Chrome, Edge or any other spyware ad ridden browsers. I don't think we need more lock in.
I understand your reasoning, but I think your logic is flawed. If Ladybird is GPLv3, then browsers will continue to use Chromium base which helps the Chrome monopoly. By making it BSD, it will help others adopt it.
We don't need that much adoption we just need a engine that is capable of not screwing over everyone. We already have plenty of proprietary browsers.
Admittedly BSD may help Ladybug get more funding and development efforts.
I'd favour GPL3 too, but we do need wide adoption because that's the only way an independent browser will influence websites not to just design for Chromium. That needs to happen for the new browser to have any impact on Google's ability to dictate standards unilaterally.
Who are “we”?
The privacy and freedom community
You guys should make a browser engine
Given the complexity of creating a new browser securely (or at all) then this suggestion is not good.
We already have projects that focus on smaller parts of a web browser (e.g a video player) which are free software. We should work on those and encourage their use over all browsers.
Easy enough - i assume you are working on one of these
That is a massive undertaking that hasn't been done in a very long time. Modern browsers have either been around for 20 years or are forks. (Sometimes both)
We are taking about creating something from scratch. That can take 5-10 years to do.
The good news is that we have plenty of tools on our tool belt. Think browsers such as Mull and Librewolf plus extensions like ublock.
Oh - I thought thats what the story was about. Building a new browser engine.
It is but it takes a lot of time
Well - I’m not part of the project but I respect the deveopers that are and that they make the right decision for their work or spare time.
If you are part of the project but feel that your effort is wasted you should indeed work on something else