Notices by Jon S. von Tetzchner (jon@social.vivaldi.net)

@marc_nl

I do not have an article. It is more of a question of what I am seeing. Things like forcing me to log into Microsoft. Push of services and applications that I do not want to use, such as OneDrive, Edge, etc. Forced AI integration with things like Recall. Blurred line between online and offline data. Extensive user profiling, which is harder and harder to avoid. Microsoft just seems to be caring less and less about us as users.

Linux is closer to how I like to do things. The fact that I can choose between different distributions, have more control over how things work and full directory access. There is also no AI and there is no real lock-in.

I have finally moved over to Linux as my primary platform. In many ways it is like coming home, as I loved working on UNIX machines in the past. Of course, I have been using Linux as a secondary OS for a long time, but I finally made the switch. Microsoft cancelling Windows 10 and the direction Windows 11 is going was just too much for me.

@ruario helped the transition, by making it easy for me to work with multiple concurrent @Vivaldi installs.
That is a must for me as I test a lot of builds at the same time.

#Windows #Linux #computing #Technology #AI #Vivaldi

Well, that is good news. Next up is stopping selling "personalized" ads. Context sensitive ads is the way forward, IMHO. They worked just fine and they were a lot less intrusive.

#Ads #EU #Europa #Politics #surveillance

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/25/meta-to-stop-selling-political-ads-in-the-eu-from-october/?utm_campaign=social&utm_source=threads&utm_medium=organic

The Register covered our stand on AI. We have chosen not to include AI in the browser. Based on your feedback, you do not want it and neither do we.

#Vivaldi #Browser #AI #Linux #Microsoft #Google #Apple #Android #Ios #Technology #Politics

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/vivaldi_capo_doubles_down_on/

I think this survey from GBH says a lot, even though it is on the Fediverse. Overall the impact of AI that is the most visible to us is negative. It is not even close.

I do believe AI has its use, but what we are seeing on the Internet is not that use at all. Rather the opposite.

#AI #Technology #Politics #fediverse #Mastodon

Results of my little survey. Why is Linux growing?

19% believe it is because of sunsetting of OS versions. Microsoft is forcing Windows 11 on people and a lot of people are not happy with that and some are just not able to run it. So with a choice of replacing the HW or the OS, plenty of people choose the OS.

20% believe it is because people are just discovering how good Linux truly is.

41% believe it is a combination.

21% think it is something else, with some mentioning SteamOS as a reason.

Whatever the reason, more and more people are seeing Linux as a great choice, which is only good news to me.

#Windows #Macos #Linux #Computer #Technology #Vivaldi

Nice article about growth in solar power. It is good to see the progress.

I am a big fan of both solar and EVs, both 4 wheel ones and two wheel ones. We need to get off fossil fuels, and the sooner, the better.

#EV #Solar #GlobalWarming #GoodNews #FossilFuels #Politics

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/46-billion-years-on-the-sun-is-having-a-moment

It has been a hard time for those poor souls that have a Tesla. It seems to be getting worse as Tesla gets Grok...

#Tesla #AI #ElonMusk #Technology #LLM

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-says-grok-is-coming-to-tesla-evs/

A lot of polishing in the new Vivaldi 7.5.

Our goal is to make a browser that is powerful, personal and private. We continue our efforts there. I hope you enjoy it!

#Windows #Macos #Linux #Computer #Technology #Eu #Europa #Norway #Iceland

https://vivaldi.com/press/releases/vivaldi-7-5-color-clarity-and-control/

Great little video by John Oliver about AI. One thing he did not get, however, is that also the comments are likely AI generated...

Now you can have a discussion about the usefulness of AI for all kinds of stuff, but to me is is disgusting that Meta is deciding to feed their users this stuff. When it comes to social media, I would think that most people are interested in what their friends have to say or what people they follow have to say. AI generated content is not that.

#AI #Technology #Politics #Meta #Facebook #JohnOliver #SocialMedia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpg1RmzAbc

I was on a new podcast called WTF Now. My episode is called How the internet went wrong. Sad title, but you will understand when you listen.

This is really back to my strong belief that we need regulation when it comes to user profiling. IMHO it should just be banned. Have a listen and let me know what you think!

#Vivaldi #Browser #AI #SurveillanceCapitalism #Meta #Politics #internet #Web

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxvqCwu2cI0

This is our take on Crypto. It has not changed. There is a reason why we have not included Crypto in Vivaldi.

We are very proud of the features we have added, but we also proud of the "features" we have not added.

#Vivaldi #Browser #Crypto #Scam #Politics #Technology #Windows #Macos #Linux #Android #ios

https://vivaldi.com/blog/why-vivaldi-will-never-create-thinkcoin/

Really interesting podcast with our own @brucelawson and Andy Yen of Proton.

#Vivaldi #Proton #Privacy #EU #Europa #Technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndlCMGxLQ38&list=PL72e6dBabYNUluI-D22vWhe_8Vu0qD3Zj&index=1

Brilliant review of Vivaldi in Heise Online. It is in German, but you will see subtitles in English, if you prefer.

For those of you asking why to use Vivaldi, you may well find your answer here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdkr23jcF38&t=113s

#Vivaldi @Vivaldi #Browser #Windows #Macos #Linux #Computers #Technology #EU #Europa #Germany

Great review of @Vivaldi :

https://www.makeuseof.com/why-switch-to-vivaldi-browser/

#Windows #Macos #Linux #Computers #Browser

What belongs in a spending bill? Banning states from regulating AI and algorithmic content for a decade? Seriously?

Quote is from NY Times.

#AI #BigTech #Politics #USA

@tyil @Vivaldi

Every browser out there uses a browser engine as base that they did not write them selves from scratch. The exception was Opera, when I was CEO there, but now they use Chromium as well.

A browser is more than the engine. There is a lot of UI around it and that is what the user engages with. We also change the engine a lot, with more than 2000 files modified. We also add a mail client, calendar, feed reader and a lot more.

@tyil @Vivaldi

I have led a team building a browser engine. The only team that has done that successfully the last 30 years or so. It is not trivial, which is why Apple, Google, Microsoft and others did not do it.

BTW, Chromium is based on Webkit, that is based on KHTML. The project was built in the same building as Opera in Oslo.

@tyil @Vivaldi

The Mozilla project came out of Netscape. Netscape in many ways came out of NTSC, where the original Mosaic browser was made by Marc Andreessen.

Now, unlike Mozilla, we do not get a big paycheck from Google. We get nothing, but we use the Chromium codebase.

So far this year we have seen nice growth in many European countries. We have doubled our userbase in Norway and Denmark, to name two.

More and more are looking for alternatives to Big Tech and we are happy to provide that alternative when it comes to browsers. We also provide a mail client, calendar and RSS reader on Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you have already switched to @Vivaldi, please invite your friends.

https://vivaldi.com

#Norway #Denmark #Greenland #Vivaldi #Browser #Windows #Macos #Linux #Android #iOS #Apple #Google #Microsoft #EU #Europa