“I built it in the way that I’d want my web browser to be,” Alex said. When combined, these features are intended to create a browser that’s efficient and respectful of users. (The only data that Waterfox collects is the user’s operating system and browser version so it can check for updates to various components). Waterfox’s balancing act features telemetry removal, plugin compatibility, customization capabilities, and limited data collection. Waterfox is there to serve as the middle ground where it’s privacy-conscious, but not a privacy tool. “But sometimes, if you go too private, you’ll find that the web sort of breaks and the user experience is negatively affected. “If you want the be-all, end-all of privacy, go with the Tor Browser,” he said. Themes allow users of all skill levels to add a personal touch to their browsers. The free solution features multilayer encryption, automatically blocks third-party trackers and ads, prevents people from monitoring your browsing habits, and makes it difficult for users to be fingerprinted based on device and browser information. He said users looking for the ultimate in protection against network surveillance or traffic analysis should turn to the Tor Browser. Today, Alex describes Waterfox as striking the ideal balance between privacy and usability. “Google is great, but Microsoft actually cared about launching a privacy-oriented search engine as one of its focuses.” That’s why Mozilla had a partnership with them for many years as well,” he said. Bing features a digestible privacy policy that has nothing too egregious in it - just what you’d expect for a search engine to return useful results. “Microsoft’s Bing is a privacy-friendly search engine, though I wouldn’t say it’s a privacy product in the same manner as Startpage or DuckDuckGo. From May to November 2015, Waterfox relied on Storm, a charity-based search engine, before briefly switching to Ecosia. Today, the web browser remains a free and open option for power users - developers and server admins included - who want to surf the web their way.Īlex ultimately found ways to monetize Waterfox through strategic search partnerships. Since its initial release, Alex has evolved Waterfox into a browser not only focused on speed, but also user-friendliness, customization, and security consciousness. Waterfox soon became one of the first widely distributed 64-bit browsers on the internet (Firefox did not release a 64-bit version of its web browser until December 2015). A feature in PCWorld further helped attract users. Within a week, 50,000 people had downloaded the browser. I thought I would brush up on my skills and create one myself.”Īlex gathered Mozilla’s developer documents, created a working solution, and posted it on, a popular community of computer performance enthusiasts. “I was really getting into the concept of pushing computer components via overclocking, and I was reading about people creating forks of Firefox, recompiling the code themselves to make it faster,” Alex told us. Since 64-bit web browsers were faster and more secure, Alex took it upon himself to create Waterfox, a 64-bit browser based on Mozilla’s free platform. But at the time, despite an industrywide transition between 32-bit and 64-bit computing, the Firefox browser was only available in a 32-bit version.Īlex Kontos gave us the scoop on his plans for Waterfox. Mozilla Firefox was a popular open-source browser in 2011 when Alex Kontos, then a 16-year-old student in Cyprus, began channeling his father’s fascination with internet technology.Īlex was particularly intrigued by Mozilla’s free and open ideals. In the future, Alex hopes to create a central repository for developers to upload their custom Waterfox extensions, allowing them to leverage even more ways to make Waterfox their own. Alex Kontos, the developer behind the project, told us that today, Waterfox is focused on providing power users the choice to run whichever extensions they want, including add-ons that transform the functionality of the browser. As one of the first 64-bit browsers available, the speedy, open-source browser quickly gained a devoted following. TL DR: Waterfox, a 64-bit browser based on Firefox, was built in 2011 to expand upon Mozilla’s free and open-source web platform.
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