Fee Based Web Browsers

Roadwarrior

Roadwarrior

Member
Google has decided it's time for an enhanced secure web browser fee. Their (Chrome/Chromium) 'Enterprise Web Browser' for businesses will carry a $6 a month per seat fee, for now you'll still be able to get a less secure 'Free' basic browser but businesses will need to pay the fee to use the 'Enterprise' browser.

Notes - HD's have gone up 20% since Oct '23, all because the AI bandwagon is coming to town.

DD claims she read somewhere? that less than 10% of the stuff posted on FB is real the rest is 'fake'. She was showing me some of the 'fake' pictures and the many 'likes' the images have generated, most have 100K or more.
 
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Nathan said:
Lately Google has been getting on my nerves, apparently they've just gotten too big now. I like Google's properties, like Youtube, Google docs and such, but I'm willing to move on to avoid the data mining and ever increasing advertising. Brave is a no nonsense browser, and Proton mail is private and encrypted.
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Brave is 'chromium' based and Proton email was too limited for me. But to each their own. I've been looking at 'Vivaldi' for my browser used by Manjaro (my recent goto Linux Distro).
 
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Nathan said:
Lately Google has been getting on my nerves, apparently they've just gotten too big now. I like Google's properties, like Youtube, Google docs and such, but I'm willing to move on to avoid the data mining and ever increasing advertising. Brave is a no nonsense browser, and Proton mail is private and encrypted.
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Well said. I have always been a Google "fan boy" and I used to get into some rather intense discussions with IOS supporters when the first Android phone came out but my enthusiasm for Alphabet has waned a lot in the past few years. I will always be an Android user but I am starting to be less reliant on Chrome these days. I used to defend Google (Alphabet) by saying nothing is truly free so I was willing to use the free Gmail and Chrome browser in exchange for some of my data but things are getting out of hand now.

I do miss the good old days when Google was an underdog and they seemed to live by the tag of "Don't be Evil".
 
It seems to be the way of technology. Rather than settle for a one-time fee, the vendors are beginning to see profitability in subscription fees. It won't be long until MS Office is only available in the 365 subscription model. I thought the browsers were happy with their advertising money and the nearly unlimited access to our data, but I guess the lure of additional profit is simply irresistible.
 
Darn, after a little research I found 'Vivaldi' is also Chromium based - back to the drawing board. Am looking now on 'Epiphany'.
 
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Android is developed and maintained by Google and is subject to their privacy policies. Trying to avoid Google on an Android is a bit like trying to avoid sand on a beach.

I bought the first Galaxy Note model that was released in 2012 for $675, spent the next two weeks trying to stop it from phoning home every time I touched it. I gave up, pulled the sim card and threw it in a drawer where it remains still.
 
iksentrik said:
Android is developed and maintained by Google and is subject to their privacy policies. Trying to avoid Google on an Android is a bit like trying to avoid sand on a beach.

I bought the first Galaxy Note model that was released in 2012 for $675, spent the next two weeks trying to stop it from phoning home every time I touched it. I gave up, pulled the sim card and threw it in a drawer where it remains still.
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You're right, avoiding Google is a monumental task! I have no smartphone as of Mar 01, no tablet, just my Linux driven laptop. I use a Linux distro that is based on ARCH. Rolling, German engineered, independently coded & adheres to EU rules. They have tried to avoid anything Google as well.

As of yesterday I was attempting to shed my dependence from using Google through my web browser & found that the test model 'Vivaldi' is based on chromium. I search with duckduckgo - not Google which is disabled., am now using 'Epiphany' which avoids using the big 'G'. I use Ghostery & uBlock for unwanted ads. It's still a work in progress. I've eliminated most popups, ads & tracking.

I no longer have an Amazon account (ended MAY 10, 2023), Have nothing to do with Yahoo or MSN either. I try to avoid the 'Dirty Dozen' when online, & I don't do anything that would get me in trouble or noticed by tracking. It's just that I dislike snooping & tracking.
 
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Roadwarrior said:
Darn, after a little research I found 'Vivaldi' is also Chromium based - back to the drawing board. Am looking now on 'Epiphany'.
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I had forgotten about Epiphany, used to be the default browser back when I used Debian exclusively. It's still pretty...plain, but I guess that's the selling point.

Edit:I use duckduckgo for search and browsing on my Android phone, never open the Chrome app at all.
 
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iksentrik said:
@Roadwarrior, do you use a vpn? I like Proton for email and vpn. If you are experimenting, you might want to try the "Privacy Badger" extension. I like it, I have Ghostery installed as well, but find I rely on Privacy Badger.
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Started using a more secure email service yesterday for my very limited emails. It's free, secure & gives 1 GB storage (enough for my few emails). I used to be anal about keeping all, but that has been reduced to the few payment receipts I get now, & 30 days is my clearing date for those. I have used Ghostery for years & keyed on uBlock for backup. Was trained that more than 2 ad blockers were counter productive and caused thrashing. I had used badger before but tabled it when uBlock was chosen. Never used VPN but then again most apps have a short life span on my laptop.

Without starting another post I'm just adding this info: I now am using 2 web browsers - Firefox and Epiphany I've used FF for years & comfortable with it. Epiphany is bookmarked with my financials only - login & passwords offline. Firefox will be used for all others along with uBlock, Ghostery, logins & passwords. Searches on both go through duckduckgo, My FF is mail.com. Both browsers are pinned to my launch panel & have added an additional workspace.
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