Chromium should be the default browser

[xenopeek]

most people are using google chrome. So, it should be chromium

I don't quite follow that logic. If most people use Google Chrome it should follow that they would expect to find Google Chrome and not Chromium.

Mint is supposed to be all about choice.

The choice to replace your default web browser isn't impacted by which web browser is the default.

[Pierre]

it's a World of Windows thing:
http://gs.statcounter.com/
chrome has over 50% of the market, & down from when it had 90% a few years back.

then again, most people don't know the difference between Chrome and Chromium.

[Schultz]

xenopeek wrote:
The choice to replace your default web browser isn't impacted by which web browser is the default.

My point was that since Mint is all about choice, then it shouldn't use as its default browser one that denies choice, such as Chrome or Chromium.
If anything, it should switch to Pale Moon as its default (especially after Mozilla screws over most of its add-ons come this Nov/Dec). Just my opinion.

[polarvortex]

Lousy idea, and terrible reasoning. I mean, most people are using Windows, so why doesn't the mint installer install Windows then?

[BG405]

Chrome's dominance on Windows systems is largely down to it being bundled with other software ... and most Windows users not noticing until the browser gets installed and set as default. It even infected one of my Win systems when I forgot to DEselect it (and was promptly removed). This can not happen with Mint, as far as I'm aware.

[cleberpborges]

Honestly, I prefer Google Chrome because with it is possible to watch Netflix. Any other web browser can do it on GNU/Linux. For me, it is a great motion to choose Google Chrome and not Chromium

[lyndave]

the default browser should remain firefox. i personally don't trust anything related to google or microsoft, but thats just my feelings.
my wife feels the same as i do

[MintBean]

There was the whole 'binary blob' debacle with Chromium, so I wouldn't call people's suspicions hysteria.

[BG405]

I agree with the gist of some of the previous posts in that it should be a choice not the default, for all the above reasons and ones I've no doubt posted elsewhere on this Forum. But I do think that another browser may be appropriate later this year, when Firefox add-on support becomes crippled. Not sure yet of what to suggest, this will need some research.

I think, personally, that Google's software should never be the default on any Linux distro unless it is made fully open-source. Although I like Google Earth I don't have or use Chrome and never intend to.

[lmintnewb2]

One of those, he says, she says threads. Yay!

Mint gets to decide such things as imo is only right. Though LM from what I've seen does listen to the distro's userbase. It's also about more than x-enduser's preferences, think LM gets some ad-sharing revenue via choice of browser + poss default search engine.

Which is also as it should be and before anyone starts griping about that, remember LM has to pay out to keep the lights on, servers aren't free, paying software devs isn't either. Clem has to eat too. End of day anyone using Mint can install Chrome or chromium and set it to be default in 5mins or less.

[absque fenestris]

"most people are using google chrome. So, it should be chromium....."

Hi!
"Most" and "should be" are fortunately not the main concern of the Linux system...
I like the freedom of choice: e.g. IceCat ... & MATE & KDE & Cinnamon & dark windows on Mondays and bright on Tuesdays ...

[all41]

I would be content with no installed browser at all--but many would not

[DeMus]

Choice in Linux is important. Choose whatever you feel is best for you. When it comes down to browsers, no one is safe. As is said already, with almost every website you visit, there are a lot of other sites contacted who need to know what you are doing, who you are, where you live, etc. This is not only done in Chrome, every browser does it automatically cause it is built into the websites.
I do use Chrome since for me it is the ideal browser, it is fast, has some nice extensions which I use constantly and which make life so much nicer. So Google knows which sites I visit (something they know anyway because of the above mentioned reasons), how do I notice that, what do I see from that? What does Google do with the info? Sell it to some company for advertising purposes? So what. I use a solid adblocker and Privacy Badger (which is st very tight) and never ever see advertisements, meaning the companies which paid for my info paid for nothing. Who laughs now?
But look at it from another point of view: Google "gives" you a great search-engine, gives you Google maps (something I use very much for planning my holiday trips), Google Earth, Youtube (who doesn't watch movies daily?), an office suite, etc, etc, etc. Do you need to pay money for this? No. Is it strange they want to get money to pay for all this? No.
If you want to complain, complain to the companies who pay Google to get the info, the advertising companies. Companies who pollute the internet with their ads nobody wants to see. Why else are adblockers so popular?
I keep using Googles products when I want to, they get my info (whatever info that may be), they do something with it and I don't notice it. In the mean time I can get to do things without paying money, something we Dutch are very bad at.

[MintyO]

Choice in Linux is important. Choose whatever you feel is best for you. When it comes down to browsers, no one is safe. As is said already, with almost every website you visit, there are a lot of other sites contacted who need to know what you are doing, who you are, where you live, etc. This is not only done in Chrome, every browser does it automatically cause it is built into the websites.
I do use Chrome since for me it is the ideal browser, it is fast, has some nice extensions which I use constantly and which make life so much nicer. So Google knows which sites I visit (something they know anyway because of the above mentioned reasons), how do I notice that, what do I see from that? What does Google do with the info? Sell it to some company for advertising purposes? So what. I use a solid adblocker and Privacy Badger (which is st very tight) and never ever see advertisements, meaning the companies which paid for my info paid for nothing. Who laughs now?
But look at it from another point of view: Google "gives" you a great search-engine, gives you Google maps (something I use very much for planning my holiday trips), Google Earth, Youtube (who doesn't watch movies daily?), an office suite, etc, etc, etc. Do you need to pay money for this? No. Is it strange they want to get money to pay for all this? No.
If you want to complain, complain to the companies who pay Google to get the info, the advertising companies. Companies who pollute the internet with their ads nobody wants to see. Why else are adblockers so popular?
I keep using Googles products when I want to, they get my info (whatever info that may be), they do something with it and I don't notice it. In the mean time I can get to do things without paying money, something we Dutch are very bad at.

I agree on many points you make but not all. But hey, that's what opinions are for. Just thought I'd mention that if I read your post carefully enough, you forgot to mention Gmail. Hands down the best "free" email in my opinion.

For the topic at hand: No, definitely not! One good option would be to have no browser installed and some "click and install menu" containing the most relevant candidates for novice users to install easily. But in some sense the current system and choice is optimal.

[DeMus]

[quote="MintyO"] Just thought I'd mention that if I read your post carefully enough, you forgot to mention Gmail. Hands down the best "free" email in my opinion.
It's part of the etc, etc etc.

[Alexiy]

What I dislike is that Mint ships a fork of Firefox instead of original one. If you enable google search in this fork, the suggestions don't work. So I decided to use Chrome because I'm used to having suggestion popup. I keep Firefox on Windows, though.

[xenopeek]

Linux Mint is not using a fork of Firefox. It is using Firefox built with from the official source code with several modified build options. That doesn't make it a fork.

In any case, this does in no way affect which search engines you can install or whether those can use suggestions or not. You can blame this one squarely on search engines. Firefox uses the OpenSearch format for search plugins and that configures both search and suggestions (BTW, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome can use OpenSearch format as well). For some reason many search engines, like Google, do not provide you with an OpenSearch format search plugin and thus you get a crippled search in Firefox. You can instead add the search engine you want from http://mycroftproject.com/ to get a fully functional one.

[Alexiy]

Linux Mint is not using a fork of Firefox. It is using Firefox built with from the official source code with several modified build options. That doesn't make it a fork.

In any case, this does in no way affect which search engines you can install or whether those can use suggestions or not. You can blame this one squarely on search engines. Firefox uses the OpenSearch format for search plugins and that configures both search and suggestions (BTW, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome can use OpenSearch format as well). For some reason many search engines, like Google, do not provide you with an OpenSearch format search plugin and thus you get a crippled search in Firefox. You can instead add the search engine you want from http://mycroftproject.com/ to get a fully functional one.

Okay, thanks.

[daveinuk]

I'm also all for firefox, don't trust google and won't use it by choice, why use linux for privacy and use google for the web, that's backwards in my book YMMV. Linix is about choice, feel free to uninstall firefox.

[gmorehouse]

I my self, i'm using Firefox, but the truth is, most people are using google chrome. So, it should be chromium.....

What most people do, true or not (stats mentioned elsewhere indicate that this is not true for Mint users), is a very thin rationale for changing the default browser after years of standardizing on Firefox.

Also, when users upgrade in place, what happens with the default link handler?

Linux mint forum users are not necessarily a representative sample.

Exactly the opposite! For Linux Mint only Mint users are representative. You made a suggestion for Mint, not for the world.

☑

]Further note, that Google Chrome is mainly, but not completely open source. Note also that this browser tracks, partially optional (but by default enabled), partially not optional.

This alone is reason enough that Chromium should not be the default browser. And I say that as a Chromium user.