Waterfox

Waterfox is an open-source web browser for x64, ARM64, and PPC64LE systems. It is intended to be ethical and maintain support for legacy extensions dropped by Firefox, from which it is forked. There are official releases for Windows (including a portable version), Mac OS, Linux and Android.

Waterfox
Screenshot of Waterfox version 55.2.2 running on Windows 10, showing the English Wikipedia
Developer(s)Alexandros Kontos, Adam Wood
Initial release27 March 2011 (2011-03-27)
Stable release2020.06 (3 June 2020 (2020-06-03)[1]) [±]
Repository
Written inC, C++, CSS, JavaScript, XUL
EngineGecko, SpiderMonkey
Operating systemWindows 7 or later, Mac, Linux, Android
Platformx64, ARM64, PPC64LE
TypeWeb browser, mobile web browser, feed reader
LicenseMozilla Public License
Websitewww.waterfox.net 

Waterfox is based on Firefox and is compiled using various compilers and using Intel's Math Kernel Library, Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 and Advanced Vector Extensions. Linux builds are built with Clang on all architectures other than PPC64LE. Waterfox is continuing to support the long-standing XUL and XPCOM add-on capability that Firefox removed in version 57.[2][3][4][5]

Features

The features of Waterfox currently are:[6][7]

  • Compiled with Clang+LLVM on Linux
  • Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) is disabled by default
  • Web Runtime is disabled (deprecated as of 2015)
  • Pocket is removed
  • Telemetry is removed
  • Data collection is removed
  • Startup profiling is removed
  • All 64-bit NPAPI plugins are allowed
  • Unsigned extensions and legacy add-ons are allowed
  • Sponsored tiles on the new tab page are removed[8]
  • A new "Duplicate Tab" command is added
  • A locale selector is added to about:preferences > General (further improved by PandaCodex)
  • Cookie Prompt has been re-implemented. Firefox later implemented a more advanced cookie control feature as part of its tracking protection initiative
  • Passwords and logins manager
  • Synchronizer for bookmarks, history, tabs, passwords, add-ons, and preferences across devices
  • Bing is used as the default search engine

History
Waterfox logo used until 2015
Waterfox logo used from 2015 to March 2019
Waterfox logo used from March 2019 to June 2019

Waterfox was first released on March 27, 2011, for 64-bit Windows. The Mac build was introduced on May 14, 2015, with the release of version 38.0,[9] the Linux build was introduced on December 20, 2016, with the release of version 50.0,[10] and the Android build was first introduced in version 55.2.2.[11] Version 29.0 released on July 22, 2015, had a build for iOS.

On May 7, 2019, with 68.0a1 the first alpha version of the next generation of Waterfox was released.[12]

From May 12, 2015, to November 12, 2015, Waterfox had its own exclusive charity search engine called Storm.[13] After using Ecosia as the default search engine for a brief time, it now has Bing as the default one.

In October 2019, the naming scheme of releases was changed, and would follow the syntax YYYY.MM.X for future releases, where X indicates incremental hotfixes. Also there was a division into two branches, classic and current.

In December 2019, Waterfox was acquired by System1.[14][15] System1 is an advertising company which it claims is privacy focused.[16]

See also

References
  1. "Waterfox 2020.06 Release". Waterfox Ltd. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  2. "Proposal for Waterfox 56". Reddit. 2017-03-11. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  3. "Waterfox 55 Release". Waterfox. 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  4. Kev Needham (2015-08-21). "The Future of Developing Firefox Add-ons". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  5. Villalobos, Jorge (2017-02-16). "The Road to Firefox 57 – Compatibility Milestones". blog.mozilla.org. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  6. Kontos, Alex (30 November 2017). "waterfox 54.0.1 release notes". blog.waterfoxproject.org.
  7. "Unique Features – Features that make Waterfox stand out". waterfox.net. 11 August 2019.
  8. "Waterfox 54.0.1 Release (Windows, Mac & Linux)". waterfox.net. 11 August 2019.
  9. Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 38.0 Release". www.waterfoxproject.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  10. Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 50.1.0 Release (Windows, Mac & Linux)". www.waterfoxproject.org. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
  11. Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 55 Release (Windows, Mac, Linux and Android)". www.waterfoxproject.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  12. Kontos, Alex. "Waterfox 68.0a1 Release". waterfox.net. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  13. Kontos, Alex. "4 Year Anniversary: Waterfox Charity and Storm Search". www.waterfoxproject.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  14. "Waterfox has joined System1". www.waterfox.net. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  15. "Welcome Waterfox!". www.system1.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  16. Brinkmann, Martin. "Waterfox web browser sold to System1". ghacks.net. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
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