Comment by freediver
7 months ago
It is very hard to build a browser from scratch. Yes Orion is still in beta and buggy, but there are hundreds of people who paid $150 for a lifetime license for this browser, which makes me hopeful that there is a space for a browser we pay for and is built with users' best interest in mind. That is incredibly important for Kagi's mission.
It is important, and I thought it'd be amazing. So then take it seriously. If you need more funding then find a better pricing model. But it is a shame that a project so attractive feels like it's abandoned.
> But it is a shame that a project so attractive feels like it's abandoned.
Can you clarify what makes you say that?
Orion development is very active. Here is Orion's changelog in case you missed it:
https://kagi.com/orion/updates/orion-release-notes.html
I installed it sometime (end of last year/ beginning of this year, can't recall). Was setting it up and imported bookmarks. Then tried to edit them and found out that renaming bookmarks and/or changing links messes up the bookmarks, they don't save/get reset. Some very odd behaviors and I have a hard time believing that they were not picked up by the team or other users. I think setting bookmarks with icon only was also not working. There were other issues and I just did not have the energy to navigate those and my work. So I decided to give it another few years. Using Safari now. But Orion being solid would make me come back.
I also don't want to be overly critical, and I am a paying Kagi user, love it and will eventually try to use the family plan, but maybe I'm just not at the point where I have time to deal with glitchy software anymore.
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Yes - but why do it is the main point?
Why not focus on doing one thing properly?
Although you seem to obviously be attracting enough money so it's up to you how to spend/burn it :)
Because I think you can not succeed as a search company without a browser. And I think that both and Orion and Kagi have proper focus. There are bugs yes, but they are not there due to lack of focus, otherwise every product out there has lack of focus.
I think this comment is the one that finally made Orion click for me from a business perspective. Without it you're sharecropping on land owned by your direct competitors who fund their browsers through money coming in from search. If you ever encroach on their revenue even a little bit they'll fight you tooth and nail.
I think it's a crazy ambitious bet but I can see why you're making it.
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Why though? That doesn’t really answer the question.