So I gave a very quick try to the brand new Ecosia Browser

PlayerFromTheITtic

Level 6
Thread author
Verified
Well-known
May 19, 2014
282
Hello everyone, long time no see ha ha
(I come check stuff in MT on a daily basis, I'm just too lazy to log in and chat)

Anyway, you may not be aware of it but yesterday Ecosia, the ecology-oriented search engine (based on Bing's and sometimes Google's search index), launched their web browser on Windows and macOS.
Gave a quick try, and removed it pretty quickly. Few of my takes:

  • Based on Chromium. If you ask me it's already a big negative. I mean, don't we have enough Chromium-based browsers out there? Yet another contribution to endanger "serious" alternatives such as Firefox
  • Actually it's not just based on Chromium. I also noticed they've been using bits from Brave Browser as well (the ad & tracking blocker is the same, some settings from Brave are here as well)
  • Their privacy policy + the default settings are not the most privacy-friendly out there, despite their claim to speed up browsing up to 3 times (doesn't it remind you of another browser making the very same claim?)
  • Yet another browser including AI bot.
  • The UI is similar to other Chromium-based projects, with a greener colour palette as you can imagine
I'm sorry but despite their noble claims of ecology, I simply cannot trust them. Neither their search engine nor their now web browser on Windows/macOS are doing enough in terms of privacy, and taking bits of other projects, applying a greener paint and making your "own" browser not open source... Not helping to say the least.

Sorry again Ecosia, will come up with other ways of being more ecologic.

Happy surfing, everyone!
 

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