OK, call me an old-fashioned fuddy-duddy who just can’t get hip to the new hotness, but after trying the Arc browser for a week, I switched back to Safari with relief. While I am happy to have a not-Chrome-or-Windows-or-Cryptobros-Encumbered-Chromium-based browser in my pocket to fire up if I need to, I could not figure out what was so amazeballs about Arc.

Additionally, I found the interface confusing AF and difficult to navigate. I am also the kind of person who really hates WE’RE SO EXCITED TO TELL YOU FEATURES videos that take forever to get to the point (please, just let me read actual documentation than watch Sally in engineering blather on about how great your software is). More than anything, the constant stream of worthless engagement videos from The Browser Company as a method of telling me about features (old and new) kind of just put me off the whole project. Again, call me a fuddy-duddy…

I did like the (I guess it’s called) Peek feature when reading Lemmy.

Anyhoooo, I could not wrap my brain around what would make Arc “worth” switching to it for primary browsing over Safari (and the tight ecosystem linkages that cleverly or evilly depending on your point of view keep me wanting to use Safari to enslaved to it, again as you prefer to call it).

Is anyone actually using Arc? Why? What’s so great about it? Do you think it’s great or Is it just another flash-in-the-pan?

    • claycle@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      165·
      1 year ago

      This explicitly wasn’t a question about Firefox at all, or even about what browser to use. It was just about Arc.

      And before you get your knickers twisted tighter, I use Firefox (as my primary driver on Windows and my secondary on Mac). I am using Firefox right now, in fact.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    IMHO, I feel like I’ve seen a lot of Arc’s big features in various incarnations over the decades. The tab drawer gave me big OmniWeb flashbacks.

    My hot take is that Arc is popular because of a) the sign up list, and b) the core users aren’t nerds who’ve seen a lot of these features fizzle out in the past.

  • anon947262949@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I get what you mean. I switched a couple months ago and still don’t really think I’m using it that well.

    However, I do like Spaces a lot. Pinned tabs too, though I kind of wish they acted more like bookmarks than persistent tabs. But that may be my misunderstanding or misuse.

    I also like that it’s chromium so lots of extensions and good compatibility.

    I still use safari on mobile because it’s very comfortable for me. Trying to migrate to Arc on mobile, but with something like a browser that you spend lots of time in, the inertia is high.

    Finally, I’m a bit worried that they have no real path towards making money. The founder suggested a “boosts” store and some other vagueries. Needless to say, that will not keep a tech company (however small) afloat.