this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Privacy

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Vivaldi Browser | Source Available (vivaldi.com)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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To get it out of the way; Obviously, yes this chromium and most of us agree that anything Firefox-like is the way to go. This post is not a "Vivaldi is better than xyz", this is a, "give it a try" type of post. So, hear me out fellow privacists.

Edit; Yes Vivaldi is not open source, but it is source available. This topic is talked about in the interview and I encourage anyone who is discouraged to at least hear the CEO out when during the talk he had with Techlore.

I recently downloaded this Vivaldi Browser based on this rather good and open interview between Techlore and Vivaldi CEO.

So this is a browser developed in Norway, and to my surprise this was a super pleasant experience! The browser is very very fast, its super customizable and has hands down the best tab management I've ever tried (seriously wish Firefox had this). It also has some really a neat shortcut system for quick access to different actions. Furthermore they seem to care about all linux distros, with support also for ARM.

I've only used the browser for a few days, but the experience is so fluent I just had to share a post about it. The team seem really genuine and open. There are also no third party investors involved with Vivaldi. It is owned by all the employees.

So if you need or want to try a fresh browser I highly highly suggest to give Vivaldi a try: https://vivaldi.com/

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Last I’d checked, Vivaldi isn’t open source, so do you have any way to verify their privacy claims? Don’t trust black boxes.

Like, if you like it as a browser, that makes sense, it’s ui is well designed and customizable. But every company tries to claim to be privacy respecting, and it’s rarely true.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (3 children)

This is covered in the interview I linked in the post, here is the timestamp;

Vivaldi is not Open Source, but it is Source Available: https://vivaldi.com/source/

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

I don't think people consider Interview with the CEO as verifiable claims for privacy or security. Even Google would claim they are privacy friendly on an interview.

Some independent security audit or a reputed privacy/security org maybe?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

here is the timestamp

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

It’s not source available. I don’t know why people insist on this. The UI has closed parts that no one knows what it does

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have tried many browsers in my life and Vivaldi is hands down the best of them. Customizable, fast, reliable, virtually no issues with it. Yes, it runs on Chromium, but Chromium != Google spying on you. https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-different-from-chrome/

What isn't talked about enough is the mobile browser. It repects user issued certificates and allows me to filter the traffic with AdGuard, which other browsers don't. Also it's I think the only mobile browser with actual tabs bar. What's more, you can move the tab bar to the bottom of the screen for easier access, you can even rearrange or stack tabs. Seriously, Vivaldi for the win.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Chromium != Google spying on you

Yeah, but you have no way of verifying that Vivaldi is not spying on you as well. The browser is not open source.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

https://vivaldi.com/source/ <--- source available at least, which is a lot better than not. They seem to try very hard to push it to becoming open source but are struggling with licensing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

You could monitor network traffic to find out.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I like Vivaldi a lot more than any other browser, but I just can’t justify using a chromium based browser at this point.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I'm in the exact same boat. I would really like to use Vivaldi. I'm a sucker for feature rich applications (that a lot of people would call bloated). But I think that giving Google more power by using Chromium is just wrong. And I'm not even the paranoid type, I still use some Google services.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

I think everyone is being over critical of this post. I welcome alternatives to the existing kings of privacy. Ultimately, I may or may not try this browser. But, it's a step in the right direction. Privacy is becoming that much closer to being brought up among common people.

[–] heowaz 7 points 10 months ago

I am a Firefox user, but when i need to use chromium i use Vivaldi.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Like a lot of people, I’ve done the full tour from Mosaic, through Mozilla and Phoenix/Firebird to Firefox and have spent much of the last quarter of a century in the Firefox fold. During that time I’ve also spent a fair time with one foot in the Safari camp and have occasionally checked in with Chrome (just to see what the fuss was about). A couple of years ago, I stumbled across Vivaldi and I realised recently that it’s sort of become my browser of choice. I love it’s customisation and speed and as OP said, it’s tab management is the best out there.

Sadly, it feels like were back in 2005 when IE ruled the roost and set the rules (very badly), and Chrome was the brave new world that was going to reclaim the web for the common man. Now we’re looking to Firefox to save the day. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t, but I honestly think there is genuine mileage in supporting projects like Vivaldi (whatever you may feel about Chromium), and let’s face it, it doesn’t take long to download a browser and check it out for a couple of hours.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Good take! Thanks :)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've been using Vivaldi since its launch and it's still my main browser. I'm a widower of classic Opera.

[–] Murdoc 2 points 10 months ago

This is me too! I know that Vivaldi could stand to use a couple of more points privacy-wise, but given everything else it has going for it, it's still pretty good. I also really liked that interview with the ceo as it cleared up some issues for me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Firefox for me,been using FF since VER 1.0 days.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I downloaded this a while ago instead of Brave due to the drama around the browser. Have not looked back since, love it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

interview between Techlore and Vivaldi CEO

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

But why? Why is it Chromium based?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I heard Floorp (Firefox fork) is trying to be like vivaldi.

https://github.com/Floorp-Projects/Floorp/

I haven't tried it yet, just learned about it yesterday.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have asked my self the same question before, can only assume its easier to develop in maybe..

[–] Murdoc 2 points 10 months ago

I beleive that the ceo talks about it in that interview.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

@Fjor, nice take! And a great interview from Techlore and Tetzchner 🤘