“Edge is interesting because I remember another browser previously offering the big web annotation feature they’re pushing, where you can leave notes for friends.
Having had an initial look at the early versions of the upcoming Microsoft Edge browser, which will be introduced with Windows 10 in July, he’s not overly impressed. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser was one of the first 64-bit browsers when Alex was beginning to look at Waterfox. SEE ALSO: Which mobile operating system is best? Some things can get too big for small teams to look after. Something feels off, when they control so much. At first you’re amazed by the product, but then after a while, you realise. A bit like Android, you think it’s open source and then half the APIs are not open source. “With Google Chrome, they’re trying to push their own standards and companies like Mozilla are not happy about that. In Mozilla’s case they said, ‘Here’s the code, go crazy.’ From a company standpoint, it might not be worth it if what you’ve got now is good enough. What’s iffy is that they’ve taken so long. “I suppose what they’ve done right is finally release their own 64-bit browsers. Would you rather have an advert that suggests somethingĬompletely unrelated or something that’s tailored to you? Some peopleĪnd what about the competition? With more browsing options than ever, Kontos believes the current crop is doing a good job, but it’s not perfect. It might sound a bit negative, but adverts It’s nice, it takes away a lot of convenience. “It’s difficult for a company like Mozilla, for instance. The Waterfox browser helps give you that absolute web privacy, but Kontos doesn’t believe sharing data is all bad. I really wanted to improve the web in a positive I didn’t want people to think this was another browser I’ve disabledĪny telemetry data to give people peace of mind.
Things like system specifications if the browser crashes. Mozilla takes that might make you feel uncomfortable handing over.
While delivering a web browser that took full advantage of new hardware was key to Waterfox, Kontos also acknowledged that privacy was something that could not be overlooked, “I’ve taken away anything that
I didn’t quite understand how to handle that kind of thing.” “It was pretty stressful, as I was really young. It took a year before Kontos paid attention to the download statistics and realised that there was more than a hundred thousand people who had downloaded the Waterfox browser he’d created in such a short space of time. When Waterfox came out, it generated buzz because I was the only one bothering to distribute a 64-bit browser.” Once I realised that loads of people started using it, I decided I could get more performance out of it, make some modifications here and there.
First I just compiled a 64-bit version and that was it.
Taking full advantage of Mozilla’s open-source code to create internet software, Waterfox was born, a high-performance browser aimed at 64-bit computers. A lot of programs were still 32-bit and not many cared about supporting 64-bit.” “Windows 7 had just been out for a year or two and that really pushed forward 64-bit operating systems.
“I found that a lot of software wasn’t really taking advantage of the hardware,” Kontos tells me. So how did it all start for Alex? You have to go back to the early days of Windows 7 and a time when 64-bit programs were still in their infancy. It’s a search engine powered by Yahoo that makes your privacy a priority and even donates a cut of your online purchases to charity. Now still in his early twenties and splitting his time between studying and developing, Kontos is setting his sights on Google with his latest venture called Storm. Around the same time he decided to develop Waterfox, a 64-bit web browser which was built in a month and has already surpassed four million downloads. When Alex Kontos was 16, he was trying to do things like overclock his laptop. In a week where we celebrate the best of the British technology industry, we speak to young developer Alex Kontos about building a successful web browser, a search engine that gives money to charity, Microsoft Edge and more