The Arc browser arrives on Windows to take on Chrome and Edge | Hacker News Reader

The Arc browser arrives on Windows to take on Chrome and Edge

theverge.com

8 pointstosh21 comments

chromium arrives on windows to take on chromium and chromium

So it's Chromium, but instead of Google having all of your data the data goes to The Browser Company and Datadog and somehow also still Google (via GCP Firebase)? And the FAQ link for why you need an Arc account goes to a missing page (https://resources.arc.net/hc/en-us/articles/19401542261911-B...)?

Is the pitch really just that it's not Google and a rearranged sidebar? What am I missing?

Arc is trying a bunch of crazy stuff. Really innovating on the browser experience—which I didn’t even think was possible. Some of their stuff sticks. Some of it doesn’t. I enjoy the wild and bumpy ride.

My fear is that they’ll slowly evolve into just a vanilla Chrome clone as they iterate to improve their usage metrics. :( A lot has already changed since last October.

I've been using Arc on macOS since early on in their beta. I don't think I can go back to other browsers now. For me its a combination of how tabs and pinned tabs are organized along with spaces on the sidebar, along with having a command palette is really really nice. Exited to use this on Windows as well now.

Anyone with more background information on Arc Browser? I like it a lot, especially on mobile, but who are the people behind it? Are they trustworthy?

As you know, if the browser is compromised everything is compromised. Where the buzz is coming from? Is it an organic fan fare or what's going on?

It's a huge whiff that they didn't choose to go with WebKit, contribute back, and provide a unique interface juxtaposed to Safari. I like Arc, in principle, but I hate how wasteful Chromium is with a computer's resources and the idea that it should be an operating system on top of your computer. I want my web browser to just... browse the web and not launch background processes and all these weird things that the web wasn't originally designed for.

Or even Arc with pluggable rendering engines. A power-efficient, battery-sipping version using WebKit would be a dream come true.

Release notes for Windows here.

https://resources.arc.net/hc/en-us/articles/22513842649623-A...

Interesting that it's Windows 11-only for now.

Anyone have any insights as to what APIs they would be using to make a Windows 11-only executable? This is the first time that I have ever seen that.

Reminder, this browser requires a login to use on all their products which is a massive red flag.

How will they make money is a mystery but I am willing to bet it is the usual AI, LLM summarization, browse for me features.

Other browsers will add BC's features into theirs for free, offline, with an open source LLM with no login wall at all.

Way easier to get a buyout offer when you have bunch of juicy user account data.

Another reason to avoid it, it is a VC buyout vehicle.

On the record I'll give it less than 10 years (definitely under 6 years) for a buyout.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I was going to try it out, but given the login requirement, Windows 11 only, and Chromium, I think I'll just be sticking with Firefox.

I got in the beta a month or so ago. I installed it and I guess I don't get what people like about it.

I like it because:

- I can handle many many tabs in a clean, efficient and organized way

- web pages show by default full screen, without: window bar, tool bar, url box, status bar, ...

- integration with AI tools

- it can handle several identities (work, home, hobby, ...) meaning that you be logged simultaneously on an app (gmail, notion, WhatsApp, ...) with different identities

- ...

What is missing: I cannot sync with Android

I guess I'm not the target customer because I don't keep tons of tabs open and I prefer to use separate browsers for my separate accounts. I haven't looked into the AI tools though.

Still waiting for Android

> Arc is also built on top of Chromium, so websites just work

sigh Fucking monoculture. Fucking propaganda against open standard compliance.

Agreed.

Can anyone share some examples of real-world sites that don't work in Firefox?

I have been using it as a daily driver for years, and it "just works."

Yet no iPadOS version.

is it just another chromium based browser or an entirely new browser engine?

yes, chromium[1], with some features disabled[2]

[1]: https://arc.net/faq

[2]: https://arc.net/security#browser-engine

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