Discussions Have Started Again About The Default Browser For Ubuntu

Written by Michael Larabel in Ubuntu on 13 October 2015 at 08:39 AM EDT. 22 Comments
UBUNTU
With an Ubuntu Long Term Support release coming up in just a half-year, the discussion has been re-ignited again about whether Firefox should remain the default web-browser for the platform.

Firefox continues to be the default browser -- including for Ubuntu 15.10 -- but Bryan Quigley has restarted the discussion given that an LTS cycle is about to start. Complicating things this time around is Mozilla's plans at the end of 2016 to drop NPAPI plug-in support and then a few months later to stop maintaining the Flash NPAPI plug-in, which would mean breakage for LTS users or unmaintained support.

There's this mailing list thread about the concerns while the Firefox / default web-browser discussion will likely to be continued at the upcoming Ubuntu Online Summit. While Ubuntu developers have been working on their own web-browser as part of their mobile/convergence work, that still doesn't seem up to scratch for day-to-day use, so would likely leave Chrome/Chromium as the main alternative to consider as the default for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
Related News
About The Author
Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

Popular News This Week