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I was changing my default browser from Firefox to Chrome when I saw an unknown option called "Browser", so I opened it and saw it was called "Ubuntu Web Browser".

Ubuntu Web Browser screenshot

So why use Firefox and not the one Canonical built?

muru
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SomeoneOfEarth
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    This might help: http://askubuntu.com/questions/269472/why-is-ubuntu-shipped-with-firefox – Rahul Mar 23 '17 at 19:29
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    Because Ubuntu is paid by Firefox is the real answer but that seems so short I didn't want to make it an "answer" – Micah Gafford Mar 24 '17 at 04:00
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    @MicahGafford [citation needed]. – muru Mar 24 '17 at 04:41
  • @muru, there's no doubt that Firefox are (or at least used to be) paid by major search engines (source: 2014 accounts) to be the default search provider in Firefox. Firefox also paid $7M in advertising and promotional expenses in 2014 (same source). Obviously Firefox is more valuable to search engines if it has more users, so it would make sense for some of that to flow to Ubuntu to remain the default browser. But this is only speculation. – zelanix Mar 24 '17 at 11:51
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    @zelanix so still [citation needed]? – muru Mar 24 '17 at 11:52
  • @muru, yup, indeed. – zelanix Mar 24 '17 at 12:10
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    @unor this is not about Epiphany, but Oxide: http://askubuntu.com/q/747304/158442 – muru Mar 25 '17 at 05:19
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    @muru agreed, that also would have made it a poor answer since I have none. I e-mailed Mozilla's press dept. to see if they pay anyone anything to be the default anywhere. – Micah Gafford Mar 25 '17 at 22:32
  • Cool. Let's see what they say. – SomeoneOfEarth Mar 26 '17 at 06:44

1 Answers1

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Web Browser was originally designed for use with Ubuntu Touch and was specially designed to be used with touch screen devices. Canonical has plans to end its investment in Ubuntu Touch in 2017, but the Web Browser app (webbrowser-app) is installed by default in Ubuntu 14.04-17.04.

Web Browser is no longer included in the default repositories in Ubuntu 18.04 and later. A good replacement for Web Browser is "Web" which can be installed with sudo apt install epiphany-browser Epiphany is a simple yet powerful GNOME web browser targeted at non-technical users. Its principles are simplicity and standards compliance.

Web Browser has very limited functionality compared to Firefox. It does not have a built-in master password feature and does not play YouTube videos properly. At least Web Browser can save bookmarks by clicking the star in the URL field on the right side, and Web Browser can also access Bookmarks, History, Private Mode and Settings by clicking on the three horizontal lines icon ≡ in the upper right corner as shown in the below screenshot. The only thing I could think of to use Web Browser for is for websites that require disabling adblocking, but Web Browser can't be used for that either because it doesn't even support solving Captcha riddles.

enter image description here

karel
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