what is the reason for not making epiphany the default browser?

[Carlos Ribeiro]

On 1/4/06, Sander van Loon <svloon at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>
> But what I still don't know is why the Ubuntu devs don't intend or don't
> want to replace Firefox with Epiphany by default. Could you please
> explain the reasons to me?
>

My first reaction to this question was "you're kidding, not again". But
after reading the entire thread, I see that'a a matter that should be taken
seriously.

I believe that Firefox is better than Epiphany. It's a matter of
perspective. From the perspective of Gnome, Epiphany would be the clear
choice. But Ubuntu is not Gnome; it's a independent distribution, and as
such it has to make choices. In fact, it's the choices that actually make up
a large part of what the distribution is perceived to be. Ubuntu got to be
broadly accepted by a lot of things, and the choices it made (Firefox
included) are a large part of that.

If you look at the broad scene, Firefox wins. It's a household name; has a
active community of users; has corporate acceptance on a lot of companies.
It has a good, proven design. It has a great community, lots of add ons. It
offers good performance. It's taken seriously by the mainstream press. Heck,
it's taken seriously by Microsoft itself -- and I say this as a compliment.
One may disagree with one or other argument, but in general, they all stand
up to examination.

All these arguments may sound like marketing fluff. But it isn't. It's
important to understand why. Ubuntu is making choices on behalf of its
users. Do not take me wrong, but Epiphany does not offer anything really big
besides Gnome integration, which -- for the most part -- does not matter for
the average user. Also, changing things midway is bad; it's confusing for
the users. On principle it's something that should only be done for very
compelling reasons, and I sincerely believe that this is not the case with
Epiphany.



--
Carlos Ribeiro
Consultoria em Projetos
blog: http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com
blog: http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com
mail: carribeiro at gmail.com
mail: carribeiro at yahoo.com
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