Focus on DIA: ARC browser no longer receives a new function

None for ARC yet, but full of focus on slide. Like the CEO of The Browser Company, Josh Miller, in one extensive and open contribution Explained about the future of the ARC browser, the development of new functions was discontinued a year ago in favor of the second browser DIA. ARC’s sale or open sourcing was considered. However, it is not that simple.

ARC: Open sourcing or sale difficult, but “not off the table”

Neither one nor the other is currently up for debate. Because ARC is not just a chromium fork, but also has its own “tailor-made infrastructure”, which the manufacturer ADK (ARC Development Kit) calls. The problem: ADK, which Miller refers to the “Secret Sauce”, is also the basis of the new browser.

However, this certain hurdle does not mean that a possible sale or open sourcing is completely off the table. “If the day comes on which our team or our shareholders are no longer at risk, we would be happy to share what we have built up with the world,” said Miller.

This development is not completely surprising, because as early as December 2024, when The Browser Kompany Dia announced, the company admitted that ARC was too complex for many users. With DIA you want to develop a product that should address the wide mass.

ARC continues to get security updates and bug fixes

Since the announcement of DIA, The Browser Company Arc has devoted less development. For ARC, only errors and security updates are published, there will be no new functions.

According to Miller, the DIA company sees a new opportunity to fix the mistakes that were made with ARC. The focus at DIA is more on “simplicity” instead of “novelty”. In this context, Miller quotes the former Apple manager Scott Forstall, who said to Miller that ARC feels like a saxophone-“powerful but difficult to learn”. Forstall demanded: “Make a piano out of it. Something everyone can sit down and play.” The Browser Company follows this approach with DIA: “To hide complexity behind familiar surfaces.”

It is still unclear whether The Browser Company does justice to this vision. Because the slide browser is still in the alpha test phase and is initially to be offered users of the ARC browser. So far, the company has not mentioned a specific date for broader availability.