@Reidob,
We made the new version a separate install for this exact reason. To ensure user data integrity (not overwriting/uninstalling anything) and so that, should they decide they’re unhappy with the new build, they can return to the old one for the time being.
When the old (Muon) build was considered release and the browser rewrite was still being considered, people were lodging similar complaints - that “clear on exit” wasn’t there, or there was no support for “smooth scrolling”, or “can’t export bookmarks”, etc.
But, as you can clearly see, these features are there. They were implemented. Brave Core (new version) is still quite new in the scope of things. We’re still adding UI changes, improving security, shaping up Rewards, readying/testing Sync and perhaps most importantly, we’re working very hard to ensure feature parity with the old build.
The settings/features you are requesting will eventually be implemented. If they’re not, they were left out intentionally for some specific reason. If this was the final product and we didn’t plan on adding any other Brave Muon features to the new build, I think the distaste would be more than understandable.
I’m bringing this up because you mentioned:
It’s not that you or anyone is “silly” for thinking that each feature present in Muon would be present in the new build. It does seem counterintuitive and it’s understandable why users may be confused or concerned with this. All we ask from users like yourself is a bit of patience and (more importantly) your understanding of the fact that this build is not yet complete. Understanding that the developers and team have your interests in mind and would not leave out features that would sacrifice or undercut your privacy.
In fact, one of the reasons we so highly recommend moving over to the new build is because of security concerns in the Muon build. Not because the browser was always insecure, but because we’ve stopped providing support for it. It’s (for example) currently 3 Chromium releases behind the new build - each one of those releases likely held new security measures and closed privacy/security loopholes. It took a long time to update Chromium on Brave Muon, but takes only a minor fraction of that time in Brave Core. From CTO Brian Bondy himself:
- Today with Muon, and tomorrow with Chromium, we always work hard to keep up with the stable release of the Chromium engine, in order to track ongoing fixes to critical bugs including security-sensitive ones. However, with the new approach, without Muon and the internal API compatibility-matching constraints that it brings, Chromium upgrade times should take less than a day instead of as long as the six week effort that we’ve faced in the past (this effort has required us to work ahead of the stable release on the Chromium beta channel).
Again, these decisions were/are being made by an incredibly talented and dedicated (also quite small) team of people who are truly, absolutely, undoubtedly, 100% confirmed working with your interests in mind. We hope you and the rest of our amazing Community can understand that.
Thank you.