Pay $60 for a cleaner browser with less features? Yes, it's a thing.

[Marc_LFD]

Developers need to be paid for their work, but $60 for a browser? That just seems bizarre to me.

I've customized Brave on my Android so no need to spend $60.

 

[AlexMCS]

But... it's free for Linux, so you can run it for free from WSL/cygwin or similar solutions.
There is no need to buy it.

Even for mac, you can use a lightweight VM manager...
The $60 is only for the most casual of users.

Even the browser itself is just a capped Brave with less features.
You're paying for less in the name of some fictional privacy.
That's hilarious.

 

[tech3475]

Believe it or not but once upon a time paying for a web browser was actually a thing until the devil....I mean MS started including it in Windows.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Believe it or not but once upon a time paying for a web browser was actually a thing until the devil....I mean MS started including it in Windows.

There was a browser I never used, but used to see a lot of promotion... Netscape.

That's why we used Internet Explorer, then.

 

[thebigC]

I admittedly haven't looked too deeply into this but it seems like a cool move from brave. You pay a one time fee for a browser with good built in adblocking from what I've heard and it will stay out of your way with the crypto crap regular brave has. Personally I would rather take that $60 and donate it to the devs working on zen (which is the browser I currently use) but that's just because I actually use Zen.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I admittedly haven't looked too deeply into this but it seems like a cool move from brave. You pay a one time fee for a browser with good built in adblocking from what I've heard and it will stay out of your way with the crypto crap regular brave has. Personally I would rather take that $60 and donate it to the devs working on zen (which is the browser I currently use) but that's just because I actually use Zen.

Exactly.

There's others who think similarly:

"It's better to think of it this as a way to support this project."

However, when people merely see "pay a one-time $60 fee for our browser with less features" it'll seem a bit greedy.

 

[Evilengine]

Using Firefox for 20 years now and probably will for the next 20 still. ^^
Ublock ftw.

 

[SylverReZ]

Brave isn't going to protect your privacy. I have said this many times, but the "privacy" model of Brave is a marketing tactic to give you a false sense that you're going to have a good time, when instead, features like a crypto wallet, VPN from some servers in China, and a built-in AI assistance are pretty big red flags.

Meanwhile, browsers which do not come with all of this, are all freely available to download. Something like WaterFox or LibreWolf being two I personally recommend.

 

[CMDreamer]

There was a browser I never used, but used to see a lot of promotion... Netscape.

View attachment 571028

That's why we used Internet Explorer, then.

Oh my... Netscape Navigator was a dream to use it. It was my to-go navigator back then. Just awesome.

 

[realtimesave]

Believe it or not but once upon a time paying for a web browser was actually a thing until the devil....I mean MS started including it in Windows.

what was it, aol? cos I don't remember ever paying for netscape but that was probably after Windows started including a browser anyway.

 

[NitroShell]

Brave isn't going to protect your privacy. I have said this many times, but the "privacy" model of Brave is a marketing tactic to give you a false sense that you're going to have a good time, when instead, features like a crypto wallet, VPN from some servers in China, and a built-in AI assistance are pretty big red flags.

Meanwhile, browsers which do not come with all of this, are all freely available to download. Something like WaterFox or LibreWolf being two I personally recommend.

Or just use Linux and get it for free, it's what I use and what I rock, it's so easy a baby could do it

 

[tech3475]

what was it, aol? cos I don't remember ever paying for netscape but that was probably after Windows started including a browser anyway.

In my original post I was going off my memory, but double checking (i.e. Wikipedia) IE was originally included as part of the paid Plus! addon.

The earlier versions of Netscape danced around paying for it e.g. commercial/non-non-commercial/nagware and physical copies.

Mosaic also did commercial/non-commercial.

And of course AOL as you mention, but could that arguably be classed as SaaS?

Now that I think about it, there were also things like the Nintendo DS Browser, although that involved hardware.

There are also other browsers such as IBrowse for the Amiga which is still shareware.

 

[master801]

Brave isn't going to protect your privacy. I have said this many times, but the "privacy" model of Brave is a marketing tactic to give you a false sense that you're going to have a good time, when instead, features like a crypto wallet, VPN from some servers in China, and a built-in AI assistance are pretty big red flags.

Meanwhile, browsers which do not come with all of this, are all freely available to download. Something like WaterFox or LibreWolf being two I personally recommend.

Like I say, "you have to be brave to use Brave."

 

[Jayro]

Brave isn't going to protect your privacy. I have said this many times, but the "privacy" model of Brave is a marketing tactic to give you a false sense that you're going to have a good time, when instead, features like a crypto wallet, VPN from some servers in China, and a built-in AI assistance are pretty big red flags.

Meanwhile, browsers which do not come with all of this, are all freely available to download. Something like WaterFox or LibreWolf being two I personally recommend.

I tried Librewolf, and hated it. I rely on Google services and it locks me out of everything. Can't even set Google as a search engine.

 

[SylverReZ]

I tried Librewolf, and hated it. I rely on Google services and it locks me out of everything.

I've had no problems using my Google account on LibreWolf. Sometimes it'll show a captcha once, but that's only when you configured the privacy settings to the max. Stuck with this browser for over 3-years approximately and had no issues except for that one blip, but I understand your concerns-it's not for everybody, use whichever browser you feel comfortable and happy with.

Can't even set Google as a search engine.

You can add Google in the 'Search shortcuts' section if it's missing. I found that annoying, too, and that it defaults to DuckDuckGo which is by far much worst.

 

[Tarmfot]

Believe it or not but once upon a time paying for a web browser was actually a thing until the devil....I mean MS started including it in Windows.

Opera.

 

[Reploid]

I'm surprised this post wasn't about apple

 

[tech3475]

Opera.

You could have added more detail, especially as Opera is currently free so requires additional context for your post to make sense and I also in a later post mention a browser which is still charging money.

 

[Tarmfot]

You could have added more detail, especially as Opera is currently free so requires additional context for your post to make sense and I also in a later post mention a browser which is still charging money.

I remember Opera 3.21 was shareware.
Then switched to adware, etc...
The best browser.

Now I use Vivaldi who is true Opera.

I miss Presto engine.

 

[AlexMCS]

It's even more baffling when almost everything is just a custom facelift/frontend for Chromium, or an old Firefox port.
Ladybird Browser is needed ASAP.