Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception

  • Many are excited about a polished, non‑Chromium browser with Arc‑style UX on top of Firefox/Gecko.
  • Others see “just a Firefox reskin” with marketing fluff, unclear differentiation, and immature features.
  • Several say they’ll “watch and retry later” rather than daily‑drive it now.

Features & UX

  • Big draws: vertical tabs, workspaces, split view, compact mode that hides chrome, and a generally “modern” aesthetic.
  • Some compare it favorably to Arc and Vivaldi; others say Firefox + Sideberry (and other extensions) already offers similar or better tab/workspace ergonomics.
  • Workspaces are described as per‑profile tab sets under one identity; profiles remain for state separation (cookies, settings, logins).
  • Split view is praised by users who don’t want to rely on the OS window manager for tiling; detractors argue this is WM territory.
  • Current implementation has rough edges: buggy profiles/workspaces, inconsistent animations, unfinished UI integration, missing hierarchy/nesting for vertical tabs.

Performance, privacy & security

  • Marketing claims “optimized for peak performance” are questioned; people find only config tweaks and compiler flags, with trade‑offs vs Firefox defaults.
  • Privacy focus is attractive to those unhappy with Mozilla’s telemetry and ad‑tech moves, but specifics are sparse.
  • A serious misconfiguration left remote debugging wide open; plus some VirusTotal engines flag the Windows installer. Together this raises concern about security maturity and calls for audits.

Engine choice & ecosystem

  • Strong interest in non‑Chromium engines; some see Firefox‑based forks as vital hedge against a Blink monoculture and potential end of Google funding.
  • Others argue that coalescing on a single open‑source engine would simplify the web; countered by security and monopoly concerns.

Platform support & installation

  • macOS users hit “app is damaged” errors due to lack of notarization; workaround requires bypassing Gatekeeper via xattr.
  • Some see refusing notarization as principled; others call it unprofessional and a trust red flag, especially for a browser.
  • Linux users report success via Flatpak/Flathub; packaging for NixOS and ARM platforms is still incomplete.

Relation to Firefox

  • A Firefox engineer in the thread welcomes the experiment but says many performance tweaks conflict with considered Firefox defaults.
  • That engineer notes Firefox is itself working on tab groups, vertical tabs, and improved sidebar UX, suggesting long‑term forking those areas may be costly.