Orion for Windows / Android / Linux

Vlad
Shouldn't you launch Windows/Linux at the same time? You'd fork UngoogledChromium either way no?
Binaries for both OS should be "do'able".

Just my two cents here regarding the choice for future platform development:

Maybe you could give already paying Kagi and Orion users the option to fill out a simple survey to let you know which OS' they are using (besides MacOS and iOS). Maybe new users too during the sign up process (voluntarily of course). Would that help you plan which platforms to prioritize in the future?

For instance, I suspect there might be a ton of MacOS users who actually have Android phones instead of iPhones. So that may be a low-hanging fruit that benefits and encourages already paying customers while also opening up to lots of potential, new, Android-only users.

Anyway, just a thought!

And since Orion is funded by its users only, it is entirely up to the number of subscribers and Orion+ sales we have that will enable funding a new team to make Orion for any new platform.

This is a very chicken / egg approach.

Ios has less than 20% smartphone marketshare, and macos has less than 20% desktop marketshare, so you're already playing to an inside straight just on the userbase numbers. And then think about apple users... These are by-and-large people who think the most important feature of their smartphone is what color bubble they have in group chat. The people most likely to be interested in 'owning their own web browser', i.e., security conscious and power users are overwhelmingly on Android and Linux or windows.

I would be very willing to pay for Orion development, but I don't use apple products. So what I'm hearing is I should start paying now, and maybe one day (possibly years from now), a version for one or more of the OSes I use (Windows, Linux & Android) might be considered.... That's not a very good value proposition.

The situation is quite different and simpler - we do not have the resources to hire a new team to do any of these platforms yet.

Instead of asking people to support Orion+ now while it's only being developed for niche OSes, might I suggest raising capital to fund cross platform development though crowd funding? I would be more than willing to purchase a lifetime subscription if I knew that contribution was earmarked towards developing for real OSes, and it would be nice to see and contribute towards a concrete goal of actually getting the ball rolling instead of just a nebulous "someday, maybe...".

Just to align expectations - We are looking at about two years of development for a team of 3-5 for Orion on a new platform to reach state close to where Orion is today on macOS. The cost will not be $40k but likely closer to $500k-$1M, provided we can find actual people capable of doing it.

Crowdfunding this is a good idea, would love to hear more thoughts on how should we set it up.

@Vlad
Hey there! First time commenter here.

I was introduced to Kagi by a colleage roughly half a year ago, and I love it. Who would have thought that being able to find proper things that you search for without being bombarded by sponsorships/ads is such a great QoL improvement. I've recently switched to an annual professional plan, and will continue to stay here as long as Kagi provides great value/experience as it does now, so keep up the great work!

I became aware of Orion a while back, but brushed it off as it seems to be mainly for Apple OSes, and still is. Just got back to Orion recently for some experimenting, and the features and promises are looking bright and exciting, and so I decided to commit and just got an annual Orion+ subscription. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use it for anything outside of work, as my main PC is not MacOS. But I truly hope that this will help bringing Orion to other platforms sometimes in the future.

I do have a couple of questions, however. Why Webkit, and not something like Gecko engine? The choice of Webkit makes technical sense, as it is fast, not memory-hungry, etc. as you and others have mentioned. I'm sure you've probably did some testing/research and utlimately chose Webkit. That being said, from a user point of view, being stuck with Apple OSes exclusively doesn't seem to be a great place to be. Gecko is already cross-platform, built and maintained by a separate experienced dev team, so it does everything Webkit does, if not better. I understand the resource constraint you and your team have to work under, but it is hard to convince someone to spend their money on a product based on a promise that they will be able to use the browser on their platform someday in the future, so you're stuck with a chicken/egg situation just like what @Jurist2907 said above.

Anyway, apology for the long post. I hope we will see more exciting things coming in the near future. Keep up the good work

P/S: Firefox could do this on Android already, but being able to install extensions in Orion on iOS is a mind-blowing experience. What voodoo black magic did you and your team do???

P/SS: One feature I would love to see in Orion is the equivalent of Firefox's Multicontainers. Not sure if this is already supported or where to raise the request, but it would be nice to be able to use this.