The Future of Pale Moon

[Batu69]

Pale Moon is a web browser that you find recommended fairly often here on Ghacks, especially in the comment section as an alternative to Mozilla Firefox.

The browser is based on an old code base of Firefox but heavily modified. One of the main appeals of the web browser is that its developers refused to integrate changes to the browser that take away functionality from it.

 

This can be something as mundane as a browser setting in the preference or the refusal to drop support for full themes or implement the not-so-new Australis interface.

 

A recent discussion on the official Pale Moon forum indicates that the team considers to create a new browser product that they plan to develop alongside Pale Moon for the time being until it is stable enough to replace the aging browser.

 

 

The main idea here is to use a newer version of Firefox's code base for that (Pale Moon's core code base is Firefox 24) but without sacrificing the user interface or the majority of features that make Pale Moon different from Firefox.

 

The step would resolve several issues the team is facing mid- to long-term not only compatibility wise with new web technologies but also with Mozilla planning to integrate major changes to Firefox (multi-process, WebExtensions, Servo).

 

On the plus side of things, Pale Moon would improve in regards to Web compatibility and be in a position where adopting changes from Mozilla code would be less problematic than it currently is.

 

The team would pick a code base that would support all the features Pale Moon should retain including support for XPCOM and XUL, complete theme support and Sync 1.1 support among others. This would set it apart from future versions of Firefox which won't support these among others.

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So, I've been looking closely at what would be a way forward, and the idea has come up to make a new browser product, re-forking from a later point in the Mozilla source tree to tackle the missed marks, compiler compatibility, and to some extent the complications in the Mozilla code. This re-forking would be done on the last stable version of Mozilla code that hasn't had a sledgehammer put to it yet and that offers the features and capabilities we as a project would still want (i.e.: Sync 1.1, XPCOM binary components in extensions, XUL, XBL, complete theme support, etc.).

 

While the Pale Moon team seems to favor the new browser product currently, more help developing the browser would be another option that would help them make the necessary changes to the current code base instead.

 

User input on the challenges that lie ahead is wanted and if you are a Pale Moon user currently or interested in the project, now is a good time to voice your opinion on the official forum or by messaging the developers directly.

 

Article source

[luisam]

It's laudable the intellectual work to develop a browser but I've tried Pale Moon and find it just a Firefox clone. So conratz for continue developing Pale Moon but I find rather meanless to replace original Firefox by an "alternative".

[straycat19]

I believe all the modified browsers that supposedly 'improve' on the original browser are security problems, accidental if not intentional.  No team that is modifying a browser has the manpower or expertise that the actual developers do, nor do they have the test base to evaluate their work.  What I modify on my system may work for me but may not work on yours because of the differences in our systems and they way we have them secured.  I don't believe any browser can be made more secure than the original with a few select addons, some hosts modifications, and some registry mods.  At least then I am in control and not relying on others work that I don't have the time to evaluate and verify.  Word of mouth on the internet means absolutely nothing anymore since it is full of idiots, liars, and wannabes.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, straycat19 said:

I believe all the modified browsers that supposedly 'improve' on the original browser are security problems, accidental if not intentional.  No team that is modifying a browser has the manpower or expertise that the actual developers do, nor do they have the test base to evaluate their work.  What I modify on my system may work for me but may not work on yours because of the differences in our systems and they way we have them secured.  I don't believe any browser can be made more secure than the original with a few select addons, some hosts modifications, and some registry mods.  At least then I am in control and not relying on others work that I don't have the time to evaluate and verify.  Word of mouth on the internet means absolutely nothing anymore since it is full of idiots, liars, and wannabes.

Then why do you use  Google Chrome then ? Its not the original  its made from  Chromium (web browser).  And when you run proprietary software there in control they can put anything they want  in it and its closed source so there in control  not you .  Only way you would be in control of a browser is if you were a dev of it

 

They dont have the best track record  in the world you know . Were do you think Microsoft  and others got the idea  too harvest you're data for profit ? Google has become the richest company in the world  from making ads  and collecting you're data  with software and services in the name of free. Now the others want to get on the gravy train . Now Google goes hardly  noticed  and all eyes are on Microsoft .  I guess Google has collected peoples data so long most have forgot and there the granddaddy of data harvesting  . They set a bad example   for other proprietary software vendors  now everyone thinks they should do it.

 

Palemoon  is not new its been around since 2009  on both Windows  and Linux  and its never been in the news about spreading malware like the top 3 has . Maybe its user base are more smarter than the average users that do what the masses do.  They get there security updates from Mozilla  .

 

Do you thank being the most popular and havering money makes you more safe ? If you do you're sadly mistaken .IE was the most popular one for years backed by a multi billion dollar company and has caused more malware than any other browser ever known.  Just like the most popular O/S windows  has more malware than any other  O/S  .Google pays out 1000s of dollars a month  and patches tons of exploits a year . But the truth is  if someone writes a 0day to exploit  it  wan't be patched yet .  Making up exploits and patching ones that's never been in the wild for money dont help there browser be more safe . chances  are these exploits would never ended up in the wild no way. The ones you have to worry about are the ones that are exploited in the wild and infected people in the wild . A lot of  malware is spread though browsers and the  more popular something is the more hackers and the governments  target it . 

 

[steven36]

5 hours ago, luisam said:

It's loable the intellectual work to develop a browser but I've tried Pale Moon and find it just a Firefox clone. So conratz for continue developing Pale Moon but I find rather meanless to replace original Firefox by an "alternative".

Once  Firefox goes to WebExtensions only browser left  that will have XPCOM and XUL Addons  left will be Palemoon . EDGE , Firefox and every browser on the market will run totally  on WebExtensions.but Palemoon 

 

Palemoon  was 1st invented because Firefox use to be a resource hog and it didn't  have x64 versions. Around Firefox 24 they forked off to just maintaining  this codebase because they didn't like all the changes  that Firefox  is making .  Firefox  have been becoming a  Chromium  clone since  they added Australis in 2014. Firefox only holds  like 5.41% of the market share  .Old IE 8 has 8.16% market share and dont even get updates anymore . Once Edge  gets  addons s its going pass Firefox as well.  Most people Already left Firefox for other browsers . Its to the point its not about losing users its about  they keep removing useful stuff  and they will never be able to gain users  again  by being like  other  browsers . The only real Firefox left is Palemoon  since 2014 ,

 

This will be there 3rd try to do something 1st they were Netscape they fail against IE . Then as Firefox  they fail  against  IE and Google Chrome . And as Servo they most likely will fail against Edge  and Google Chrome. Seems Mozilla is prone  to failure . All the great addons in the world never could get them ahead of a browser with no real addons at all .