[loudmax]

We've been taking open source for granted for the past decade. As open source has proven difficult to monetize, we may be seeing a return to proprietary closed source software.

Whether this is a good or a bad thing depends on how it plays out. If software like Flow conforms to standards and offers a better experience, battery life, privacy, etc then it might work out well. An open infrastructure with a marketplace to pay for desired features will benefit us all.

The bad scenario is that the web continues to fracture into proprietary components. While a web not dominated by Chrome seems almost unimaginable today, it wasn't that long ago that sites that only worked in Internet Explorer were commonplace. If Flow actually becomes the dominant web browser and Flow-only websites ever become the norm, we'll all be worse off for it. That really is a far off scenario, so for now, having Flow as an extra player on the web is probably a good thing.

[salusinarduis]

No one is paying for a web browser. It doesn't matter how fast it is.

[kroltan]

Flow's model isn't directly as an application, I suspect, but rather a browsing engine. Since the article mentions set-top boxes, that means deploying to fixed hardware which is usually the case for things like integrated browsers on TVs, consoles, and digital billboards or the like. And possibly video game UIs, like Coherent Labs's software.

So presumably one would license the engine to use in their device or game and integrate that cost on the end product, rather than a user explicitly paying $X to Ekioh.

[ColonelPhantom]

One possible approach here could also be dual-licensing under both something like the GPLv3 and offering commercial licenses. That way you get the advantages of being FOSS, but also become able to sell the application to system builders.

[edoceo]

I am ready to buy.

Needs: FOSS reasonable rendering, runs on Linux (Gentoo), no-bs. It's mostly FF - but they still pack in BS. And I want things like uBO to work.

I keep experiment with Servo and trying to build apps to embed other renderers so already spend time-cash trying to solve "user agent" problem

[loulouxiv]

What is the usability state of Servo now ?

[edoceo]

Rough! Wwbrender gets better but the Servo UI wrapper needs a bunch of work to add "standard" features (eg: bookmarks, url bar)