Firefox is to remain the default browser in Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu developers have today confirmed.
Chromium, the open-source frills-free version of Google Chrome, was put forward as a Firefox replacement for the 13.10 release back in May. The debate on which was better suited continued into June. At that time developers said they were ‘leaning towards Chromium as default’.
But, in an e-mail to the Ubuntu Developer list today, Jason Warner, Ubuntu Desktop Manager at Canonical, has said that Firefox will remain the default for 13.10.
Chromium will remain available to install from the Ubuntu Software Centre in Ubuntu.
We ran a poll around the time of the original proposal asking readers which browser they’d prefer to see installed by default. It was a close-run thing; Firefox pipped Chromium to the post1 with over 56% of nearly 10,000 votes.
‘Historic Pattern of Updates’
This decision seems to have been was based around ‘historic pattern of updates around Chromium‘ and issues related to ‘keeping up with Chromium changes’ that affect.
But it seems that Warner doesn’t consider any of these set-backs insurmountable in the near-term:
I do want to consider Chromium by default for 14.04 once the above is no longer an issue. I sincerely believe Chromium is the better experience for general users and should be strongly considered for our next LTS.
The debate over the default browser may be over for this cycle but it’s set to continue well into the next.