My Obsession with Browsers

My Obsession with Browsers

Mini Browsers Gone defunct

Gecko and his territory and FAT Browsers needing Diet Cola 

 

Diet Cola
Gecko and his territory
I wanted to write about the Gecko, the Firefoxe’s background engine thinking it is a little browser.
It is not.
It is a layout engine for multiple browsers that originated in the fold of Linux background.
It takes the content and formatting information and displays on the browser's bland screen.
Gecko has been known previously by the code names “Raptor”
I have decided to support the lightest browser in the line of Abiword as the lightest but a very powerful word processor.

I faintly remembered about its Linux origin. Most of them are defunct except Dillo.
 

Currently I favour Midori, IceApe, Dillo and SeaMonkey and not Firefox.
FireFox is light on its own but easily get bloated over 100MB with cookies.
 

IceApe
Download size: 10.27 MB
Installed size: 29.44 MB
Package filename: iceape-browser_2.0.11-5_i386.deb
Source package: iceape
 

SeaMonkey
Download size: 19.65 MB
Installed size: 48.37 MB
Package filename: seamonkey-2.4-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
Source package: seamonkey-2.4-1.el6.src.rpm
 

Dillo
Download size: 441.81 KB
Installed size: 1.04 MB
Package filename: dillo-2.1.1-1.ssl.i386.rpm
Source package: dillo-2.1.1-1.ssl.src.rpm
 

wget
Download size: 480.73 KB
Installed size: 1.79 MB
Package filename: wget-1.12-1.4.el6.i686.rpm
Source package: wget-1.12-1.4.el6.src.rpm
 

Lynx

This is probably the oldest one.
Download size: 1.38 MB
Installed size: 5.15 MB
Package filename: lynx-2.8.7-7.fc16.x86_64.rpm
Source package: lynx-2.8.7-7.fc16.src.rpm
 

Links
Download size: 1.81 MB
Installed size: 2.87 MB
Package filename: links-2.2-13.fc15.i686.rpm
Source package: links-2.2-13.fc15.src.rpm
 

Midori

I loved this unfortunately gone defunct.
Download size: 53.20 KB
Installed size: 599.80 KB
Package filename: midori-devel-0.3.6-1.fc15.x86_64.rpm
Source package: midori-0.3.6-1.fc15.src.rpm
 

I could not find a single article in the web stating their download size (compressed) and installed size.

This information is mandatory when new releases are made and they should also give a breakdown of the size of the cookies allowed when fully 

 

 

 Posted on October 5, 2011

Why I hate Nosy, Bulky Browsers?

I will list them first for easy browsing and relate an incident that happened only yesterday.

1. They are FAT.

2. The have what are called cookies. These cookies are very oily full of Cholesterol.

3. They are Lazy as a result of eating FAT Cookies.

4. All of these I can excuse.

To be fat is no crime. To be Lazy is  a Ceylonese pastime and I can excuse that too.

5. But I cannot tolerate FAT person being nosy.

All these browsers are Nosy.

In fact, like  FBI and KGB they are paranoid and watch every move you make out there in the Web.

There is nothing called privacy.

6. You may say I have a password when I read my mail.

It is just a joke.

Your password is remembered for posterity.

You might or yeah, it saves me typing a cryptic password.

But if the search engine remembers it how can it be a password?

Coming from Linux background this is violation number one.

Who gives permission to the browser?

Nobody but like a school principal the browser assumes the authority.

7. Some cookies do eavesdropping for advertisers especially porn.

8. Where does one end up with?

Your boss is angry with you.

Try to find an excuse to sack you.

You inadvertently forget to log off and close the browser and pretend to be doing some mundane work.

He excuses for a minute and sit in.

Goes through the history.

Copy the history and sends an email to himself with a date tag.

He does this for a month or so and asks you for an interview.

Some paranoid bosses may have even surreptitiously opened your email (DID NOT LOG OFF BUT ONLY CLOSED THE BROWSER) and BROWSE YOUR PRIVATE MAIL TOO).

You have no defense and fired.

Whom to blame not your boss but the BIG FAT BROWSER?

What is the end result.

Your boss is paranoid and you too are paranoid and the productivity comes down drastically.

9. Same scenario can be in your home unless you have a little network like what I have at home.

Everyone has a computer terminal (Linux not Microsoft) and the guests also has a terminal for an emergency.

Even if one does not have anything to hide like a simple Buddhist monk every individual deserve some space of privacy.

Breaking that is violation of a fundamental right.

10. What can one do?

If you use Linux you can have a Pendrive with your favorite distribution to boot up.

That is the cheapest way.

Otherwise have your own netbook or laptop which is bulky to say the least.

With tablets coming the weight might come down a little.

Apart from other reasons, this is one reason I strongly support tablets with variety of android clones and in time to come Anti-Android from Singapore.

Story

I wanted to show JoliCloud to a young guy.

I logged in his computer with my password.

Browser Chrome.

Operating system Microsoft Win 7.

I tried to log off the cookie wasn’t there.

Tried several times, searched every godforsaken little menu but could not log off.

I log on to JoliCloud, it starts again to my cloud space without asking for the password.

No logging off dialog box.

Finally we had to erase the one hour of our activity to erase the cookies remembering my password for future sessions.

Had I left without logging off he would have had the access to my data and if he devised (he was a nice guy and I was pretty sure he would not do that) a method to change my password, I will lose my ability to log in next time.

The story is different if the guy is like your paranoid boss.

I signed off from him saying there is no privacy in the Web.