Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company

I lost all faith in The Browser Company when they went into a maintenance-only mode with Arc to shift to Dia, without any real announcement. Just a reply to a Twitter post calling them out. They figured no one would notice. I think they eventually addressed it after some public pressure, but I don’t think they sold the decision well.

AI seems like a feature to add to existing browsers, not something that needs its own dedicated browser. People’s workflows get tied to a browser, especially one like Arc, so to proclaim it done, with no need for any new features after just a couple years, while most expect a browser to carry on for decades, left a really bad taste in my mouth.

I was excited when they launched, but won’t miss them. They felt more like a dev backed hype machine. I’m not sure what Atlassian has planned, but won’t be surprised if they kill the browsers and integrate some tools into their existing product line.

Yep, you nailed it.

Why would I try/migrate to a new workflow after they axed my old one. You can't rebuild customer trust after that

Hey, give them a break. Arc is like... 2 years old. You can't expect anyone to maintain legacy code THAT OLD!

That's like 17 hot new frameworks out of date!

I've been using it for 4 years!

yea, I guess Google, Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla also ditch their work after only two years as well...

Also 2 years or even 4 years is not that long at all

I just switched to Zen instead.

I also hated that they were trying to make it a free tool, which would mean selling user data to make money, and would require growth at all costs.

These days, I'm trying to migrate to paid tools. I would much rather work with a slower growing company that has a real business model other than grow and sell out.

I'm not a mind reader but I think the post you replied to was sarcasm.

Zen was a bit rough around the edges when it first launched, but it's a solid replacement to Arc now. Honestly don't miss Arc anymore.

I was a big fan of Arc too, they should at least open sourced it after abandoning.

Anyways, now we are building BrowserOS, an open-source alternative to Dia -- https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOS

I'm also a big fan of Arc, and I'm currently a heavy user. I have zero interest in the upcoming Dia release - I feel like Dia is a step backward compared to Arc.

> a real business model other than grow and sell out.

This is why I have problems trusting any new SaaS these days. The industry has changed from wanting to build a good product to wanting to grow fast and then exit, and typically the users get screwed.

You just can't trust that anything will stick around, so why bother adopting the tool in the first place, especially for anything that's not open source.

Same. Old business models make more sense to me and seem healthier for customers, employees, and the economy. Growth at all costs, with the goal of a quick and profitable exit only benefits the founders, and is generally a net loss for society as a whole.

I can’t say I’d be above taking the briefcase full of money when dangled in front of my face, but when that’s the goal from the outset, the incentive structure feels backward.

The java, it is scripting, all day, every day, hakol hayom

Assuming the business has access to the data, the backup plan for the business is always to sell the data. There is very little chance the leaders of a business simply wind down the business and close the doors.

And you know how much VC it has raised?

$0.

I am a mind reader and can confirm the post he replied to was sarcasm.

Actually, I think the switch to Dia was them providing certain potential buyers proof that they (as a dev team) could build a new browser with a completely different UI and mindset/intent quickly. Essentially just something to prove their "Arc Dev Kit" efficiency.

We are looking for someone with 10 years of experience though! Rejected!

I share your sentiment but still can’t imagine adding a browser-specific AI subscription alongside my current GPT or Claude sub.

Do you do contract work? I've got some minds that need reading.

And can you read dog minds?

Dia was paid. Dia Pro cost $20/mo

The transition from Arc to Dia feels like Windows 10 to 11. They try to add new things to the old software, like Copilot on Windows and AI in Arc Max. But then they decide to make something entirely new instead, like Windows 11 and Dia.

Yes! What good is a chatbot if you keep the old terrible UX? Chatbot + Arc: great! Chatbot + Chrome: Perplexity already did it pretty well so what's the point...

No, I only use my powers for good.

And your dog wants pets and treats.

I don't really need AI in my browser. I do like spaces in Arc, and how it handles cleaning up my tabs. The color coding of the sidebar for the various profiles is the one feature I haven't been able to find in things like Orion, Vivaldi, Firefox, etc. By color coding, I mean the ability to make the entire sidebar a different color, which helps me make certain I don't do stupid things in prod.

Agreed; the occasional Raycast AI query using their web extension suits me well.

Haven’t used Arc as my daily driver in a while now, but I used a similar setup with a semi-bright green sidebar as my debugging space when my last project was in active development. I’m rarely at a desk these days so back to Safari for the time being, but one thing I miss the most is Arc’s near-borderless window ‘frame’.