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Ladybird: A new cross-platform browser project (awesomekling.github.io)
submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by fasterandworse@awful.systems to c/notawfultech@awful.systems
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I found that the SerenityOS project also has a web browser with a completely new set of engines. It looks reasonably capable too.

Both LibWeb and LibJS are novel engines. I have a personal history with the Qt and WebKit projects, so there’s some inspiration from them throughout, but all the code is new. Not to mention, hundreds of people have worked on the codebase since I started it, all adding their own personal influences, so it’s definitely its own thing.

Edit: Here's a recent interview with the creator Andreas Kling talking to Eric Meyer and Brian Kardell about the browser https://www.igalia.com/chats/ladybird

Edit 2: Here’s their August 2023 update video of the browser https://youtu.be/OEsRW3UFjA0

Edit 3: Looks like the project was recently sponsored $100k USD from Shopify https://awesomekling.substack.com/p/welcoming-shopify-as-a-ladybird-sponsor

It’s quite impressive!

Note: I don't know anything about the politics of the SerenityOS project or the people behind it.

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[-] bitofhope@awful.systems 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

SerenityOS and Ladybird are extremely impressive. Andreas comes across as very likeable and the community he's built seems cool.

There's a pervasive idea in the programmer community that it's impossible to make a modern web browser unless you're a top 10 tech corporation. I love that they're challenging that and showing that all it takes is a handful of volunteers with good programming chops and a bunch of elbow grease.

A worrying number of people in engineering don't seem to think software is worthwhile unless you can expect to compete for majority market share with the incumbents. If "hacker" is to be taken as a title of honour, I think it belongs to the ones who make things without expecting to take over the world.

And the project has seemingly helped Andreas stay sober, which is pretty heartwarming.

EDIT: 2 years later, we regret to inform you the milkshake duck is…

[-] fasterandworse@awful.systems 3 points 10 months ago

Note: I don’t know anything about the politics of the SerenityOS project or the people behind it.

revisiting this now to cringe at myself and just saw your edit haha

[-] self@awful.systems 1 points 3 years ago

There’s a pervasive idea in the programmer community that it’s impossible to make a modern web browser unless you’re a top 10 tech corporation.

A worrying number of people in engineering don’t seem to think software is worthwhile unless you can expect to compete for majority market share with the incumbents. If “hacker” is to be taken as a title of honour, I think it belongs to the ones who make things without expecting to take over the world.

agreed, I wish hacker culture was more like this instead of the capitalism fan club it actually is

there’s a weird parallel between large software projects like web browser engines being considered impossible to accomplish without a gigantic corporation’s backing and the long-standing (but utterly false) belief that it’s impossible to do semiconductor manufacturing without a gigantic, expensive factory. the motivation for pushing these claims seems fairly obvious — if folks think these core pieces of tech infrastructure can’t be replicated without corporate control, they just won’t try.

this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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