[Oneiric-Topic] Default Browser

[Luke Yelavich]

On Fri, Apr 08, 2011 at 01:36:01AM EST, Micah Gersten wrote:
> Since now both Firefox and Chromium have committed to rapid release
> schedules, I think it's time to reevaluate the default browser in
> Ubuntu.  I am concerned that some of these upgrades might break system
> integration at some point.  While the security team does its best to
> prevent regressions, we can't test every case (especially ones we don't
> know about :)). Perhaps, if we can find one with sufficient features,
> switch to a Webkit based browser with a more normal release schedule (6
> months).  We could have an installer like Kubuntu does to install
> Firefox or Chromium on demand.  This will also keep the system
> documentation current within the release as the screenshots/menus won't
> be out of date shortly after release.

This raises accessibility concerns, because Chromium is not yet accessible on Linux, and there is not enough manpower upstream to address that, particularly since Firefox is working well with regards to accessibility. If chromium were using libwebkitgtk, then things may be different, since webkitgtk is getting better and better accessibility wise, but I dare say that would be a lot of work.

Luke