Ask Me Anything! (AMA)

[mr tribute]

I think these are related: How much demand (usage statistics/download numbers) is there for Pale Moon browser and do you see demand increasing or decreasing?

[Drugwash]

Have you fully recovered after last year's accident, and are you OK with yourself now?

[ag0044]

Some of my questions have already been asked ... makes it easier for me.

What are your sources of income? (I ask as I can't see that contributions to PM would keep you alive.)

[ag0044]

How old (or young) are you?

[ag0044]

Will you be bringing back the PM postcards? (I still have mine from 2015.)

[Lecco]

Which flavour of Gårdschips do you prefer and why ?

[UCyborg]

How old (or young) are you?

It's written on his forum profile.

[sidology]

Are you considering forking "modern" Firefox?

You should, because FF forks are laughable. For example, not a single one of them brought back bookmarks description field.

[Moonchild]

Thanks for all the questions! Closing this topic now, and I'll get to answering after I move the forum to a new host the coming days.
Kind of expected more personal/outside-of-the-box questions, but hey~ I'll happily explain at length about Pale Moon too

[Moonchild]

Answers start here

Since the forum has moved and I'm confident it's stable on the new host, I'm answering these questions today. I hope to do a decent job satisfying people's expressed curiosity

If you were starting as a new computer user today, as a 12-year-old version of yourself in 2026, what OS do you think you would end up using the most in your career, or would the OS not really matter?

I don't really think it's possible to answer this. I can't really imagine myself as a 12-year-old in 2026 having grown up with computers omnipresent from birth. It would have been so entirely different getting to 12. I can try to extrapolate best I can, and... I think it would probably be dependent on what would give me the most value. I'd probably still see an O.S. as a tool, because my natural curiosity would have me dissect the computer to want to know how it works internally, and I've never been one to be satisfied with not knowing exactly why something works the way it does (that got milder as I got older, but at 12? I wanted to know how everything ticked, period).
So.. probably some form of Linux? But it'd still be switching to other OS-es as-needed.

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Nonetheless, I am curious, have you ever tried Zorin OS?

No, I've not really felt much need to try out Windows-alike Linuxes after my initial forays into digging into several pre-Zorin distros trying the same. They all failed at one point or another by not being Windows and not providing compatibility, so I'm just not interested in spending much time doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

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I know you moved to Lapland recently, and that you have lived for a time elsewhere in Sweden as well as Britain, the USA and your native Holland. What do you like the most about each of the places where you have lived, and what has drawn you to your present home?

(pet peeve: Holland isn't The Netherlands. It's just 2 provinces of the 12)
Giving it a think to pick one thing I like most (usually it's context dependent, every place had things to like and dislike, and what exactly it would be depended on when you would ask me and in what context...) it's about this:

• The Netherlands: I'd have to say the education system. Even though later on it failed me due to privatisation and making some difficult choices that weren't always the smartest, it has given me a very, very solid knowledge basis to live from, and it has never quelled the spark of curiosity; in fact always encouraged me to keep learning.
• Britain: Scones. And the Peak District's natural beauty.
• Australia (you missed that one ): The very pragmatic and no-nonsense people you can find there (if you ignore certain ethnic groups). And the low population density giving more room for nature; it's been the place where I've easily had the most close encounters with wildness anywhere, which made me happy every time.
• USA: The relative ease with which to connect to new people.
• Sweden: Nothing really stands out as one thing, but I think that in itself is something to like. It's very even and consistent in general, and the social democracy governance will actually take care of you if you put in the effort to contribute.
• Lapland in particular: Cool climate and the natural beauty everywhere. I can wake up and have a picture postcard view out my window.

[Moonchild]

What was your Impetus or reason for creating Pale Moon?

Initially, it was just me tinkering with Firefox to try and get a faster and more optimized build (2.x era). Since they were liked so much by friends and family, I put more effort in to share it with more people. Getting serious with Pale Moon became a thing with Firefox 4, when Mozilla started to make more top-down decisions and changing things I didn't like, so that's when the idea of actually making code changes and keeping a running set of patches as I kept rebuilding Firefox the way I preferred it came in. And... we forked from there. But the Impetus at the very start? Giving back some of my expertise in computing to the world by improving an overly generic browser to be more efficient for contemporary hardware. The Netscape roots and their tendency to push compatibility to a fault felt to me like it was holding Firefox back.

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Do you think there is a long-term, 15+ year future for chromium, or do you think it is headed toward a dead-end, and if dead-end is it due to any specific technical decisions?

Realistically, Chromium will last exactly as long as Google thinks it is profitable enough, and it (unfortunately) will not at all depend on technical reasons. Chromium was never about technology-first; their entire development philosophy makes that painfully clear. So, to answer your question: I really don't know! I don't understand the arbitrary nature of marketing decisions.

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I hope this is seen as one question even though it has a few question marks...

Do you have a succession plan or similar in place for if/when you are no longer able to direct the Pale Moon project? How solid are these plans? What would you predict would happen to the Pale Moon project in the coming 5-10 years if you were "hit by a bus" tomorrow?

There are no detailed succession plans. Pale Moon is entirely in the open in terms of everything necessary to continue the project if i were "hit by a bus". It doesn't necessarily need me to direct it; anyone else could do so as well, if they dedicate themselves to it (or maybe several people if it feels like it's too much for one person). As to what would happen in the coming 5-10 years if I were to be taken out of the picture tomorrow? Probably one of two things: Either someone steps up with honest dedication to take the project forward, in which case we can go on "as usual" in whatever further direction that person thinks is best for the project and community... or not, in which case it will become another unmaintained browser that a small niche of people will continue to use despite better judgement, and a historical entry otherwise.

[Moonchild]

Since it is a ask any question topic, and I noticed your avatar is kind of furry, and I'm curious that, do you wear or even own a furry suit?

No, I do not own or wear a furry suit/fursuit.
I did do some (professional) mascotting work when I lived in Australia, but that was never anything personal or related to the furry fandom other than the person operating the business focusing on animal themes and having a "fursona".

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Sometimes I wonder if the effort and time I spend on maintaining Basilisk is worth it, or if maybe I'm wasting my time. Do you ever feel the same about Pale Moon or UXP as a whole?

I do occasionally feel the same. That seed of doubt is there, especially when it just doesn't seem like all the things I do are ever enough to be truly successful. Yes, income matters, and it's barely enough to make this work. But, I also see the occasional reminder that people really wouldn't know what to do if Pale Moon and UXP didn't exist, and it reminds me that people do rely on it and that, if for nothing else but to be there for those people, it's still worth it.
I hate to say it but the "maybe I'm wasting my time" doubt has become much more of a thing ever since the Tobin debacle, bringing the whole "you'll always have people who can't just let you exist because they personally disagree" thing very close to home. It brought into perspective that for some reason or another, there will always be people who want to see you fail, and the fight will never cease. It did make me realise though that persistence is a form of true strength.

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What was the first significant (interpret that in any way you like) software program that you worked on, and what language was it written in?

I'd say the first significant (as in of practical use for other people) software program I worked on was a scoring program I wrote for a card club in the Netherlands (the game "Klaverjassen") to tally scores. It was written for DOS text mode screens, and was written in Turbo Pascal.

[Moonchild]

I hope this is okay to ask, but what linux distros have you used and what ones do you like best?

I have used in no particular order... Slackware, Gentoo, Mandrake, Linux Mint, Debian, Centos, Alma Linux, and some others without significant runtime.
I'd have to say CentOS 6/7 and Alma Linux are the ones I like the best.

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Off-topic:

Why have my posts been removed?

You were asking general Pale Moon support questions in this thread. That's really not the intent of this.

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What makes you happy?

Many things make me happy. Good food and drink, quality time spent with friends, dogs, natural beauty, independence, ... I could probably think up a lot more given time, but that;'s what is at the forefront right now. As with many things, those things do change in importance over time.

[Moonchild]

What do you think of people spreading the idea of PM being "outdated" and "ancient"?

I think they need to inform themselves, and above all, not just say so because others say so.

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And completely unrelated, what do you think of weasels/ermines/stoats?

They are interesting creatures! I have first-hand experience with ferrets; they are cute in a way, and I generally align pretty well with their attitude towards the world so we got along fine. They are lively little predators/hunters, although to me do feel rather fragile.

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What are the features/changes you wanted to add to Pale Moon, but the community refused for them to be made, but you really wanted to add them (Also elaborate if you still want them made, even as the time went on)?

I guess it's more about what I wanted to remove, not add. I really wanted (and want) to streamline the code a lot more, but the community for a big part has a lot of resistance to change, so I accepted that it won't be exactly the way I want it, to cater to the broader variety of use cases than I could ever imagine. I don't really have particulars in mind here right off the bat. It's mellowed in my mind to a more generic complacency with Pale Moon being the way it is now.

[Moonchild]

I know how interested you can be, towards Microsoft Windows, but what are the changes that if Microsoft added to Windows, you would daily drive a Linux distro for the rest of your life?

It's already here and it's called Windows 11
Basically the moment Microsoft puts too much stuff that gets in my way into Windows, more so than the roadblocks Linux would puts in my way, then I would consider daily driving Linux. Effectively, if I were to be forced to use Windows 11 in its current state or Linux with no other choices, I would (likely) choose Linux, but maybe a BSD or Solaris or Apple OS - everything is on the table and they would have to prove themselves. For the rest of my life though? I'm not sure I could ever dedicate myself to such a statement. If another OS comes along that suits me better, I would switch to that.

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If you can perceive an alternate timeline, where Firefox did not change its XUL ecosystem and might as well implemented your early configuration fork of Firefox, what you would've been doing, during that time, and how different your life would've been (I personally have no clue how much do your family members know about what you do, but you could elaborate on it, on this question)?

Hypothetically? I would probably have continued my translation career, or maybe switch to what is now primarily hobbies (metalwork, soap making, etc.) because translation did and would inevitably burn me out. So I'd likely have an artisanal shop (I'm still planning to set that up if I find enough time for it) and keep using my workshop to make crafts in a more business-oriented manner. My life wouldn't necessarily be much different, but it would all depend on how successful that path would be.

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How do you view the future of the Pale Moon project (with or without you)

I think this was mostly answered above in the "hit by a bus" question. I'm just well-aware I don't have a crystal ball. I don't expect the project to last forever, but we're not done just yet

do you plan to keep going until age/disease/whatever takes its toll?

That entirely depends on if there is still reasonable need for it! I am also fine with handing it over to someone else if I'm confident they can take it forward in a way I can have peace with.

[Moonchild]

Have you fully recovered after last year's accident, and are you OK with yourself now?

Mostly. I'm okay with myself, and just deal with the occasional bad day. It just is the way it is and I adapt to changes. I do wish my tailbone didn't hurt so much some days though But that will likely take the better part of a year to diminish.

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What are your sources of income? (I ask as I can't see that contributions to PM would keep you alive.)

Primarily DDG search revenue and contributions/donations to PM. It's (very) tight but I make it work, somehow, by previously living in cheap rental space and now trying to self-own as much as I can without debt. To supplement I do try to cut expenses where I can, and make the occasional smart investment in goods I can then re-sell at a small profit. I'm looking into more heavily leaning on my arts and crafts in setting up more of a shop for creating and selling soaps, solid perfumes, and metalwork, but that is still in its infancy. I need to make more time for it (reducing Pale Moon time) if I want to move forward with that, but I find it hard to do that.

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How old (or young) are you?

54

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Will you be bringing back the PM postcards? (I still have mine from 2015.)

No. It would just be silly expensive to do so because Swedish post for sending cards has become ludicrously expensive. Small donations would just have everything evaporate in transaction fees and postage. That isn't why people donate to the project; it should go towards the project, not to fatten payment processors and the Nordic postal service (who leave quite a bit to be desired in their handling of parcels, by the way). To put this into perspective, they now ask no less than 44 SEK ($4.75) to send a postcard internationally!

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Which flavour of Gårdschips do you prefer and why ?

I don't like any Gårdschips! I tried a selection of them and I just don't like it. The chips themselves are hard and Swedish potatoes have very little flavour to begin with, and the rapsolja they are fried in is just making it disgusting. The flavouring is so mild it doesn't mask the issue of the base product, no matter how many different ones they try to market. They just don't suit my pallet.

[Moonchild]

Are you considering forking "modern" Firefox?

Not really on my radar at this time. I looked at it a year or so ago but their development has become so intertwined with Mozilla services and integration everywhere with things external to the browser application, it would be a monumental task to do it properly, which I simply don't have time for.

You should, because FF forks are laughable.

There's a reason for that It's very time-intensive to do.

End of answers