Waterfox: An excellent free, open and independent web browser

Waterfox: An excellent free, open and independent web browser

A few days ago, specifically the August 25st, 2020, the launch of the version 2020.08 of the Waterfox browser, which incorporates security updates and some changes in its basic characteristics.

Waterfox is currently considered as a excellent alternative to traditional web browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome, not just for being free, open, multiplatform and independent, but for its security and privacy policies, in addition to its low consumption of RAM.

Best Free Software Programs for GNU / Linux Distros of 2020

Although in the Blog DesdeLinux, in the past we have not discussed in detail Waterfox, We have already mentioned it on previous occasions, as in the following entry, that we recommend reading after completion of this article, and whose title is Best Free Software Programs for GNU / Linux Distros of 2020:

Related article:

Best Free Software Programs for GNU / Linux Distros of 2020

Waterfox: An excellent alternative web browser

According to official website of the Waterfox web browser it is simply described as:

"A 64-bit browser based on Mozilla's free and open source platform".

However, Waterfox according to its Developer (s) It was also:

"One of the first 64-Bit browsers widely distributed on the web, which has quickly gained many followers (users). Above all, since at the beginning it prioritized the issue of speed, but now it also tries to be an ethical and user-oriented browser". About Waterfox

Therefore, it is considered a fork of Mozilla Firefox specially designed and optimized to work best in 64-bit Operating Systems, privileging privacy and user choice.

Key features

Waterfox currently has the following features and functionalities highlights:

• A use focused on giving users the possibility to choose: The browser focuses on powerful users, allowing you to make the important decisions. It does not have any plugin whitelist, you can run any extensions you want, and absolutely no data or telemetry is sent to Mozilla or the Waterfox project.

Information about latest version available

Waterfox, such as Firefox provides many browser updates per year. In the case of Waterfox, there is a Official blog to announce them. And as we already said at the beginning of this publication, for this date the version 2020.08 that incorporates some security updates and some changes in its basic characteristics, both in its Current and Classic versions.

It is good to keep in mind that:

WaterfoxCurrent it is based on Firefox Quantum, while Waterfox Classic is essentially based on Firefox ESR. WaterfoxCurrent, is currently based on Firefox 68, and uses DAV1D to play av1 and Servo formats to render websites, so the performance is better. It supports CSD, and has the ability to show the status bar, change the position of the bookmarks toolbar, the position of the window controls, the position of the tab bar, among other options.

"WaterfoxCurrent: Use this version of Waterfox if you want the latest and greatest the web has to offer, you want to use all the WebExtensions and some Bootstrap extensions".

"Water Fox Classic: Use this version of Waterfox if you have your browser configured with various NPAPI plugins and bootstrap extensions that have not been updated like WebExtensions or for Waterfox Current".

Installation

En Windows and MacOS it installs normally with its installer file. In Linux, it can be installed in the familiar ways, by downloading the tar.gz file available and creating the shortcut to the executable, as has been shown many times in the case of Firefox.

And by including the official repositories and installing the package "Waterfox-classic" or "waterfox-current"plus their respective Spanish language packs (waterfox-classic-i18n-es-es or waterfox-current-i18n-es-es). Or lastly using a file .AppImage available.

For more information about him, you can visit his official website at GitHub.

Finally, we leave the slogan of said Web browser which sums up its philosophy of use very well:

"Browse the web your way, with the standalone web browser".

Note: I currently use it as a single web browser on top of my custom and optimized edition of MX Linux call Miracles. MX Linux brings it incorporated in its repositories. And I can add that, in my particular case, I notice that the consumption of RAM is lower and its speed or performance is slightly better when browsing.

Conclusion

We hope this "useful little post" about «Waterfox», which today is constituted as a excellent alternative to traditional web browsers, such as Firefox and Chrome, not just for being free, open, multiplatform and independent, but for its security and privacy policies, it is of great interest and utility, for the entire «Comunidad de Software Libre y Código Abierto» and of great contribution to the diffusion of the wonderful, gigantic and growing ecosystem of applications of «GNU/Linux».

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