Cloudflare is sponsoring Ladybird and Omarchy

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Ladybird and browser diversity

  • Many welcome Cloudflare sponsoring an independent browser engine, seeing the web as dangerously close to a Chromium/WebKit duopoly.
  • Ladybird is praised as one of very few engines built from scratch (not on Gecko/Chromium/WebKit), which some view as crucial for standards diversity and leverage against Chrome dominance.
  • Others doubt its real-world impact, arguing that to counter Chrome you need a strong incumbent (Firefox) rather than another niche browser.
  • There’s discussion of language choice: concern about C++ in such a security-critical codebase, with some reassured by Ladybird’s stated plan to incrementally adopt Swift.
  • Governance and track record are debated: some worry about the lead developer’s history of moving on from hyped projects; others counter that code is open and Ladybird is now a structured nonprofit, unlike earlier hobby efforts.

Firefox, Servo, and alternatives

  • Several commenters wish Cloudflare (and others) would fund Firefox or Servo instead, but note:
    • Firefox development can’t be funded directly; donations go to the foundation’s broader advocacy, not the browser.
    • Firefox is heavily funded by Google, which undermines it as a true counterweight.
    • Servo exists and is making progress but lost momentum after Mozilla layoffs and never had a “new browser” narrative.

Omarchy’s value and controversy

  • Technically, Omarchy is seen as: Arch + Hyprland + opinionated defaults, scripting, encrypted install, and curated packages. Supporters say:
    • It massively reduces setup friction for tiling/Wayland workflows.
    • It works “out of the box” as a polished dev-focused desktop, particularly attractive to macOS users curious about Linux.
  • Critics argue it’s “just dotfiles plus bloat” (large ISO, bundled proprietary apps, highly opinionated choices) and question sponsoring a derivative distro instead of Arch or more foundational projects.
  • Some users report Omarchy as one of the first setups that made desktop Linux feel approachable; others found it unintuitive or fragile in VMs.

Politics and brand toxicity

  • A significant subthread focuses on the Omarchy creator’s political posts about immigration and London, with multiple commenters labeling them far-right or xenophobic and refusing to use the OS or do business with him.
  • Others complain that criticism appears only deep in the thread, or accuse opponents of demanding impossibly “pure” advocates.

Cloudflare’s motives and power

  • Many suspect reputation laundering or ideological signaling toward the “tech right,” since both projects’ leaders are seen as aligned (or adjacent) to that milieu.
  • Others frame it as strategic hedging: like Valve funding Proton to reduce dependence on Windows, Cloudflare is hedging against Google/Apple control of browser engines.
  • A long debate centers on Cloudflare’s growing gatekeeper role:
    • Some see sponsorship as critical: without explicit recognition from Cloudflare, a new browser risks being locked behind captchas and bot-detection walls.
    • Others find this itself alarming—one company effectively deciding which browsers are viable.
  • Numerous commenters share experiences of Cloudflare captchas blocking Firefox/Linux, VPN, Tor, or privacy setups, describing Cloudflare as running a de facto, continuous DoS against un-“approved” clients.
  • Defenders respond that Cloudflare is reacting to massive bot and scraping traffic, not targeting specific browsers, and that site owners choose this tradeoff to stay online.

Funding scale and impact

  • Cloudflare is noted as a “platinum” Ladybird sponsor (~$100k/year). Some see that as symbolically important but tiny relative to browser-engine costs; others note how much Ladybird has achieved with minimal resources.
  • For Omarchy, it’s unclear if support is primarily money, bandwidth/CDN, or both.
  • Several commenters argue the choice of Omarchy over long-running, underfunded infrastructure (Arch, pacman, more generic distros, or less-hyped projects) reflects marketing and personalities more than technical impact.