Re: Opportunity for Epiphany

[Reinout van Schouwen <reinouts gnome org>]

Hi Jeff,

Here's a more formal reply than our conversation in the pub, sorry I let 
it linger for a while...

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005, Jeff Waugh wrote:

> momentum of public recognition, provides an improved but ultimately 
> familiar user experience and has the resources of mozilla.org (and 
> Google) behind it.

As you're undoubtedly aware, Epiphany builds on those resources as well. 
:-)

(snip)

> That said, there is a massive opportunity opening up for Epiphany, and 
> if we are smart and listen to our users, we can "reclaim the browser". 
> *cough* ;-)

Could you elaborate a bit more on what you have in mind when you say 'if 
we are smart and listen to our users'? Just asking because 'our users' 
is not a very well-defined group. It could mean our grandmothers that 
we've recently converted to Linux, or it could mean a bunch of vocal 
Footnotes tr^H^Hanonynomous Georges.. ;-)

> Anyway, just wanted to point this opportunity out to you guys. Is it 
> time to reclaim the browser? :-)

Obviously we would be very excited if popular distros started using 
Epiphany as the default web browser in their GNOME environment.[1] 
There's been a recent influx of interest because of Philip, Crispin and 
Tommi taking on the project of "porting" Galeon to Epiphany-extensions, 
so the timing may be just right. But developer manpower is still limited 
and realism forces me to admit that such distros (or persons 
representing them) would be keelhauled if for instance the AdBlock 
extension wouldn't be in a better shape than it is now.

So I guess what I'm saying is, it's way past due to reclaim the browser, 
but much depends on the willingness of distributors doing their share in 
polishing extensions etc. in such a way that a transition would be 
received favourably by their user communities.

[1] Especially if they're Debian based[2]
[2] Even more so if they're funded by South-African space travelers 8)


regards,

--
Reinout van Schouwen