Dear OS/2/eComStation/ArcaOS user,
The OS/2 VOICE foundation is sending this email to the OS/2 community because we need your assistance to collect funding for a new web browser on OS/2/eComStation/ArcaOS.
The company Bitwise Works from Austria has been doing a lot of work to maintain Firefox for OS/2 over the last couple of years. As Herwig Bauernfeind from Bitwise Works made clear in his presentation he gave at Warpstock 2018 Toronto, Firefox for OS/2 is on its way out for OS/2 after version 52 ESR. The primary reason is because Firefox is switching to RUST. Rust is a general purpose programming language sponsored by Mozilla Research. It is unlikely that RUST will ever be ported to OS/2.
But there is another reason why Firefox needs to be replaced, its getting bigger and more complex with each release, to big to maintain basically. Developers that use Firefox on other operating systems have also been complaining about the fact that Mozilla applications have turned into a merry go round with libraries (DLL's). One library gets used in version X and a few versions later another is added or removed.
As it now stands Firefox 52 will be the last browser that is known that we can port to OS/2. Do not worry however Firefox 45 is being finished and 52 when released will give us browser support for 1 1/2 to 2 years to come. But we need to work on a strategy now.
While a Firefox browser based on RUST is no longer an option, what options have we got ?
We currently have 2 options:
1) A browser based on Qt 5.5/5.9, one *possible* candidate is the Otter browser.
https://otter-browser.org/
But having Q.T. will also make it easier to port the Chromium web browser to OS/2.
2) The second option is to port the Pale Moon browser to OS/2. Pale Moon is a browser based on an older version of
Firefox. https://www.palemoon.org/
When it comes to the previously mentioned Q.T.this is a cross-platform application framework that is used for developing application software that can be run on various software and hardware platforms with little or no change in the underlying codebase, while still being a native application with native capabilities and speed.
https://www.qt.io/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_%28software%29
Currently OS/2 has support for QT version 4.78, but we need Q.T. version 5.5/5.9 to be current enough to port a browser to our OS/2. http://trac.netlabs.org/qt4
Our goal is to provide 10,000 USD (about 8.500 Euro) to Bitwise to update Qt to version 5.5/5.9. If its decided Bitwise Works choices to port Pale Moon your donations will be used for this project. We feel confident that Bitwise Works has outstanding know how to decide which route will provide the OS/2 users a new web browser for the coming years.
VOICE has supported many open-source projects in the past, and any funds in excess of that needed to port Qt or Palemoon, will be donated to other open-source projects to benefit OS/2 users.
You can donate at the following link.
100% of your donation will go to Bitwise Works.
If you have any questions about this sponsorship, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
On this page you can follow how much money has donated:
As of the 11th of October we have 0 US Dollar.