I’ve been using the Arc Browser as my daily driver for the past few months. It’s a game changer for me. I’ve never felt like I’ve had my browser tabs so under control. If you are interested in an invite, let me know!

@dfj That said, their plan to port Swift to Windows to get Arc running in that operating system sounds bananas. It also feels ironic that a web browser wouldn't build their UI using web technologies so its portable out of the box. But no browser seems to take this approach, so maybe its a bad idea?

@dfj sounds like they haven't really out-innovated Firefox or Brave in terms of fundamentals, eg openness, portability, nonprofit structure etc so I'll sit out

@warner Yup, from a software perspective, I like Arc. From a business perspective, I’m anxious about how things will go. I think they are VC backed, which isn’t a good sign. If they were to charge for the use of Arc, I’d consider it because I like it that much. But I don’t really see how they can be a successful business with a paid browser. That model died in the Netscape days 🙃

@dfj added Arc to my R&D environment a few months ago as the main/primary browser. I see how it helps folks with tab-diseases 🤣 but since am mostly iPadOS, there’s a bit of a disconnect between what it does and what feels intuitive

Glad to see other browsers though. As a bit of the feel of “Opera vs others” from 15 some years ago.

@Avancee Ah, I’ve only briefly used it on iPhone and not at all yet on iPad. I’m not sure it has the same impact in those environments. But I’ve been loving it on Mac OS.

@dfj I’ve not used the mobile Arc… don’t think I will. I’ve been iPad-only since the first iPad (and was mobile only before that with PalmOS, Symbian, Android, and a piece of Times)… I find Windows/macOS soooo indirect… I just wanna touch and multi-touch, don’t want a mouse/keyboard/touchpad intermediary 😅

@Avancee Ah, I see! Curious if you’ve tried Arc’s easel feature and what you think of that?

@dfj I’ve been curious about how Arc would improve situations like mine where I live off of several web apps for work all day. The thing that would make or break it is compatibility.

@dfj I haven’t… will have to find a use case though to play with it

@gregmoore It has a feature where you can pin sites in an area of the sidebar that’s really well suited for web apps. I use it for gmail and such.

The rendering engine is chromium, and I haven’t noticed any compatibility issues.

@dfj That bodes well! I’ll have to figure out how to try it.

@gregmoore It’s free but there’s a waitlist. If you want an invite code, let me know!

@dfj Oh, I didn’t know that. Yea please if you have one. greg@gregmoore.me

@dfj It's so good!

@gregmoore Sent!

@while1malloc0 Yes! Glad you’ve been liking it!

@dfj Thank you again for the invite. It’s really an interesting app with a totally different paradigm from other browsers. I described it to a coworker as “an app version of a Chromebook.”

Turning folders of bookmarks into spaces have been the most useful feature for me so far as it allows me to better manage sets of web based apps at work. Coming from Safari though, the memory footprint is something I’m keeping my eye on.

@gregmoore Glad the invite worked and you have been giving it a try! "App version of a Chromebook" is an interesting way to look at it and feels like a good comparison. I've been using it for work stuff, where most of my work activity takes place in some sort of web app, so the pinned apps feature has been great. And my tab and window sprawl is finally under control, haha.

At home, I have been using it over Safari and I've noticed it is more CPU + battery intensive too. Not sure how much Arc can make progress on that or its a symptom of the underlying Chromium engine.

@dfj Yeah, I was kicked into Google's Chrome interface very quickly when making changes to simple things like settings. Not to minimize the really cool stuff they are doing with it. Although I had to go back to my regular browser workflow to get stuff done this week, I still plan on giving Arc another shot when things aren't so intense. The ability to quickly swipe between sets of web apps seems like an obvious win. (Admittedly, Arc is 100% a no-go for my personal browsing as Safari has no comparison between my multiple devices for blocking, battery saving, etc.)

@dfj sounds you're walking into a surveillance trap pal

@warner We will see. I definitely agree that the currents would lead Arc/The Browser Company this way...between VC funding, capitalism, growth at all costs typical mindset. But, I think the real test for TBC is if they can fight the current and chart a different course. So far, their privacy policy would seem to indicate that they intend to try for this. But, I know privacy policies can change without notice.

If they don't navigate this well...it'll be easy enough to switch away from Arc. I'll miss their features, but perhaps they will get incorporated into other browsers just as tabs are table stakes today.

@dfj yeah I'll sit out. Lmk which killer features I should look out for in Firefox/Chromium?

@warner Totally fair to sit this out! I definitely respect the view that switching to a browser like Arc is a risk not worth taking.

@dfj Still have an Arc browser invite hanging around? I'd love to try it.

@Annie I do! Send me an email doug at dfjones.net

@dfj awesome, just emailed. thanks!