Comment 170 for bug 269656

You know, I stayed out of this stuff the last time around, because quite frankly I didn't care that much about an icon. A EULA is different. First, I'm one of those people who tells everyone I know to always read every last word of every EULA they encounter, just in case. I regard them as something not to be trusted, even though they aren't legally enforceable in many places. Users shouldn't have to deal with that sort of thing in Ubuntu, period, and we certainly don't want it to be their first impression. Does Mozilla have the right to make this demand? Absolutely. However, we also have the right to take the alternative option and discontinue use of their brand if that demand is unacceptable for our purposes, which I think it is.

It's been nice having the familiar Firefox name around for new people switching over to Ubuntu, but it's time to stand up and rely on our own branding, not Mozilla's. If Mozilla wants to throw their legal weight around a bit, let them, but keep it out of Ubuntu's development cycles - there are better things to spend time on. I had dismissed the idea in the past as not being particularly necessary, but given that this is now our second quibble about Mozilla legal requirements, and one that no doubt sets a much more dangerous and obnoxious precedent, I am now fully in favor of going with one of the other options for Ubuntu's default web browser, and possibly moving Firefox proper to multiverse. I'm also significantly disappointed that there wasn't involvement of the broader community earlier on in this discussion.

As I see it, there are two choices that stand out going forward:

1) Go with Iceweasel. After the last bit of bickering this actually has some significant name recognition itself, would be functionally the same in terms of general interface, profile compatibility, and extensions, so a very simple technical leap that could easily still be implemented in time for Intrepid release. Additionally, this choice would reduce our overall delta with Debian, which is usually advocated as a good thing by the development team.

2) Use Epiphany-Webkit. Epiphany has always been a good browser, and lately has been making more strides into the realm of being a great one. Someone blogging about the last Ubuntu Developer Summit actually noted how many people there were using Epiphany instead of Firefox, which says something about its technical prowess, and ability to cater to power users as well as people just needing to get to a few web pages fast. Its simplicity, friendliness, and integration into the Gnome desktop certainly fits well with the overall Ubuntu project goals. The recent transition to Webkit gives it that last technical leg up to make it worthy of serious consideration even if there wasn't a particular reason to look at dropping Firefox otherwise.

Given those points, my own personal recommendation would be to implement Iceweasel for 8.10, given the short timeframe left to do so. Then, a significant discussion should be held for 9.04 (and future releases, if needed) about the relative merits of Iceweasel versus Epiphany-Webkit.