Proposed: Chromium as Ubuntu's default browser

[VeeDubb]

Does it really matter what the default browser is?

Nope. It truly doesn't.

You dislike chrome and chromium because of a very specific set of behaviors when editing text in the browser that most users couldn't care less about.

I love Chrome because it integrates so well with google services and syncs automatically with my android tablet and phone, which most users either couldn't care less about, or choose to accomplish using pluggins for their favorite browser.

Everybody has their favorite browser for one reason or another, but pretty much all of them work just fine for what you'd expect a default browser to do. The simple fact is that installing a different browser and making it the default is trivial on any computer these days, and especially trivial using Ubuntu. Most anything they'd use as a default browser takes up so little space that leaving it in place and simply not using it should be a non-issue, and if you want to remove it, you can. sudo apt-get purge firefox ta-da!

I just tried it, and the only thing it took with it was a bunch of firefox addons I'd installed through repos, a Unity pluggin that I didn't use, and a remote log-in config package I didn't use.

[mips]

I never get this complaint about FF being "slow", it might have been true back in FF 3.6 but since FF4 it has been speeding up quite spectacularly.

No I reckon FF is slow compared to Chromium but the startup is much faster. I use to swear by FF but no more.

[Anders Stroem]

I don't mind using either Chrome/-ium or Firefox. Usually I will spend a couple of weeks using one of them, and along comes a need-to-have feature in the other, warranting a switch.

[neu5eeCh]

You dislike chrome and chromium because of a very specific set of behaviors when editing text in the browser that most users couldn't care less about.

Possibly. However, there are presently 66,488,043 Wordpress.com sites. And Chrome sucks air on every one of them. How many of those bloggers care? I don't know. But even if it's just a third of them, that's a serious limitation. Why make your default browser one that's a sucky, train wreck on one of the most popular free blogging sites in the universe (let alone wordpress.net)?

Just sayin'.

P.S. And yeah, I could back up that "universe" assertion, but then the men in black would come knocking on my door.

[VeeDubb]

Why make your default browser one that's a sucky, train wreck...

Just for the sake of discussion, I don't have the statistics handy, but I suspect that there are more android users out there than 'active' wordpress bloggers, so your argument could just as easily be used to support using Chrome/ium.

My point wasn't that switching to chromium should be done.

My point was that the entire discussion is moot because installing a different browser to use as default is trivial, and both chromium and firefox meet the reasonable expectations for a pre-installed default browser. i.e. - you can browse the web with them.

[uRock]

I have an Android and would not want its browser synced with the one on my PC. The capability of syncing is one of the reasons I stopped using Chrome. I see that function as a privacy reducing security hazard. I use Firefox with Ghostery and, though it is offered for Chrome, the purpose is negated when the browser is backing itself up to a server that is shared with 3rd party sources without my consent or knowledge.

[CharlesA]

Firefox offers sync as well, but I have it disabled.

[OrangeCrate]

Firefox offers sync as well, but I have it disabled.

I used the Firefox sync for a short time a couple of years ago, and I seem to remember, that there were a lot of hoops to jump through to get it hooked up. I prefer the Chromium/Chrome set-up now, and use it on three different computers.

[CharlesA]

I used the Firefox sync for a short time a couple of years ago, and I seem to remember, that there were a lot of hoops to jump through to get it hooked up. I prefer the Chromium/Chrome set-up now, and use it on three different computers.

I think I used it once and only for bookmarks as I don't save passwords via the browser. I don't think I even bothered syncing it with another machine cuz it was so clunky.

I think I'll stick to keepass for my password management.

[JamesTheAwesomeDude]

No problems accessing any of several Stack Exchange sites with Firefox. Have you mentioned it in any meta site of SE? Link?

Since when does stack exchange not work in FIrefox? It works perfectly fine for me. I have firefox 4 both on a system with 3.2 kernel, and one with 3.8.

I can't delete my comments or edit/flag/delete posts at all in Firefox. I think may have mentioned it in a meta somewhere, but I think it either died or got closed as Too Localized.. Doesn't matter now, though, as I seem to be the only one with the problem, and I'm using Chromium now.

In what way is Chrome lacking in SVG support? Or what is implied by "Firefox is a more robust browser, with stricter adherence to the official W3 standards (SVG support is one of my favorites,)"?

BTW, I use Firefox, and Chrome and Chromium.

Oh, wow, I just saw that Chromium added SVG support... First time I tested it was a long time ago, and all I saw was raw XML... Yay for my new browser!

Same here. I always remove every browser and install elinks.

Chromium = Chrome's baby brother.

I don't see why Firefox doesn't work, and if you are going to change browsers, Ubuntu, I would suggest having Chrome.

Do you have any idea of the uproar that would ensue from including a proprietary browser as the default in Ubuntu? Proprietary drivers are one thing (and controversial at that,) but including a closed-source browser with a bad rap for tracking users' behavior in the default software suite is going a little overboard...