SRWare Iron
{{Short description|Chromium-based web browser developed by SRWare}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox software
| name = SRWare Iron
| logo = Iron logo.png
| screenshot = SRware Browser screenshot.png
| caption = Iron 135.0.6850.0 on Windows 10
| developer = SRWare
| licence = BSD, with some parts under other licences."SRWare Iron is based on the Soucecode of Chromium. It is licensed under the BSD-license." SRWare Iron installer. Accessed 2020-05-19. Source code not provided.
| released = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2008|9|18}}
| ver layout = Stacked
| latest release version = {{Multiple releases
| branch1 = Android
| version1 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q94|P548=Q2804309}}
| date1 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q94|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| branch2 = Linux
| version2 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q388|P548=Q2804309}}
| date2 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q388|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| branch3 = macOS
| version3 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q14116|P548=Q2804309}}
| date3 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q14116|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
| branch4 = Windows
| version4 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q1406|P548=Q2804309}}
| date4 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q1406|P548=Q2804309|P577}}
}}
| latest preview version = {{Multiple releases
| branch1 = Android
| version1 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q94|P548=Q51930650}}
| date1 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q94|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| branch2 = Linux
| version2 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q388|P548=Q51930650}}
| date2 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q388|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| branch3 = macOS
| version3 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q14116|P548=Q51930650}}
| date3 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q14116|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
| branch4 = Windows
| version4 = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q1406|P548=Q51930650}}
| date4 = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q1050182|P348|P400=Q1406|P548=Q51930650|P577}}
}}
| programming language =
| operating system = Windows 7 and later, OS X 10.9 and later, Linux, Android 4.1 and later
| size = 74.1 MB (Windows), 110 MB (Android)
| language count =
| language footnote =
| genre = Web browser
| website = {{URL|https://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php}}
}}
SRWare Iron is a Chromium-based web browser developed by the German company SRWare.{{Cite web |url=http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_download.php |title=SRWare Iron - The Browser of the Future |access-date=2014-04-24}} It primarily aims to eliminate usage tracking and other privacy-compromising functionality that the Google Chrome browser includes.{{cite web|url = http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php |title = SRWare Iron: The Browser of the future - Overview |access-date = 18 July 2010|author = SRWare}} Iron ships with certain Chromium privacy options switched on by default, it provides some additional features that distinguish it from Google Chrome.
Development history
Iron was first released as a beta version on 18 September 2008,{{cite web|url=http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_news.php|title=SRWare Iron - The Browser of the Future|author=SRWare|work=srware.net|access-date=21 July 2015}} 16 days after Google Chrome's initial release.
On 26 May 2009 a Preview-Release (Pre-Alpha) of Iron came out for Linux.{{cite web|title=Iron Pre-Alpha for Linux Download|url=http://www.srware.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=382|access-date=29 July 2011}} And on 7 January 2010 a beta version for macOS was released.{{cite web|title=New Iron-Version: 4.0.275 Beta for MacOS|url=http://www.srware.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1048|access-date=29 July 2011}}
On 11 August 2010, Microsoft updated the BrowserChoice.eu website in order to include Iron as one of the possible choices.{{cite news|url=http://www.zdnet.de/news/digitale_wirtschaft_internet_ebusiness_microsoft_aktualisiert_browser_auswahlbox_story-39002364-41536677-1.htm|author=Kai Schmerer|title=Microsoft aktualisiert Browser-Auswahlbox|publisher=ZDnet|date=10 August 2010|access-date=10 September 2010|language=de}}{{cite web|url = http://www.browserchoice.eu/BrowserChoice/browserchoice_en.htm|title = Choose Your Browser|access-date = 29 April 2012|last = BrowserChoice.eu|author-link = BrowserChoice.eu|date = n.d.|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140208004146/http://www.browserchoice.eu/BrowserChoice/browserchoice_en.htm |archive-date = 8 February 2014}}
More recent versions of Iron have been released since then, which has gained the features of the underlying Chromium codebase, including Google Chrome theme support, a user agent switcher, an extension system, integrated Adblocker and improved Linux support. Support for Windows XP ended with version 50, but all older versions are still available.{{Cite web |title=Index of /old/iron/win |url=http://download1.srware.net/old/iron/win/ |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=download1.srware.net}} With version 55.0.2900, control of WebRTC is taken over by an add-on.{{Cite web |title=WebRTC Block Extension - SRWare.net |url=https://www.srware.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=11893 |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=www.srware.net}} Therefore, the "WebRTC disabled" builds are no longer available.{{Cite web |title=Iron WebRTC disabled Builds |url=http://www.srware.net/webrtc_off.php |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=www.srware.net}}
Differences from Chrome
{{See also|Google Chrome#User tracking|l1=Google Chrome user tracking}}
The following Google Chrome features are not present in Iron:{{cite web|url=http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php|title=SRWare Iron - The Browser of the Future|author=SRWare|work=srware.net|access-date=21 July 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107684 |title=Privacy, unique IDs, and RLZ - Google Chrome}}{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.html|title=Google Chrome Privacy Whitepaper|work=google.com|access-date=21 July 2015}}
- RLZ identifier, an encoded string sent together with all queries to Google.{{cite web |url=https://blog.chromium.org/2008/10/google-chrome-chromium-and-google.html |title= Google Chrome, Chromium, and Google |access-date=28 January 2010}} See Which Google Domain
- Google Search access on startup for users with Google as default search.{{cite web |url=https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/browser/google/google_url_tracker.cc?annotate=16699#l31 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730090821/http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/browser/google/google_url_tracker.cc?annotate=16699%23l31#l31 |url-status=dead|title=View of /trunk/src/chrome/browser/google/google_url_tracker.cc |access-date=15 November 2010 |archive-date = 30 July 2012}} Source code comment on line 31
- Google-hosted error pages when a server is not present.
- Google Updater automatic installation.
- DNS pre-fetching,{{cite web|url=https://blog.chromium.org/2008/09/dns-prefetching-or-pre-resolving.html|title=Chromium Blog: DNS Prefetching (or Pre-Resolving)|work=Chromium Blog|access-date=21 July 2015}} because it could potentially be used by spammers.{{cite web|author=Srinivas Krishnan, Fabian Monrose |url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1855696 |title=DNS prefetching and its privacy implications: when good things go bad |publisher=USENIX |year=2010| page=10 }}{{cite web|author=Mike Cardwell |url=https://grepular.com/DNS_Prefetch_Exposure_on_Thunderbird_and_Webmail |title=DNS Pre-fetch Exposure on Thunderbird and Webmail |access-date=2013-09-25}}{{cite web|author=SRWare |url=http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_faq.php |title=SRWare Iron - Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=SRWare |access-date=2013-08-20}}
- Automatic address bar search suggestions.
- Opt-in sending of both browser usage statistics and crash information to Google.
- Google Native Client.{{cite web|url=http://thesimplecomputer.info/the-private-life-of-chromium-browsers|title=The Private Life of Chromium Browsers|work=thesimplecomputer.info|access-date=21 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206050613/http://thesimplecomputer.info/the-private-life-of-chromium-browsers|archive-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead}}
Added features include:
- An ad blocker.
- A user agent switcher.
- Opt-in blocking of other background communications, such as extension, GPU blacklist, and certificate revocation updates.{{cite web|url=http://www.srware.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2552|title=New Iron-Version: 13.0.800.1 Stable for Windows|author=SRWare|work=srware.net|access-date=15 May 2017}}
- Increased number of recent page thumbnails shown on the New Tab page.
Criticism
In December 2014, Lifehacker said that Iron offers little that is not available by simply configuring Google Chrome's privacy settings.{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/the-best-privacy-and-security-focused-web-browsers-1672758270|title=The Best Privacy and Security-Focused Web Browsers|author=Alan Henry|publisher=Gawker Media|work=Lifehacker|access-date=21 July 2015|archive-date=29 June 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170629195740/http://lifehacker.com/the-best-privacy-and-security-focused-web-browsers-1672758270}} However, the_simple_computer wrote that Iron removes the Google Native Client, Google's custom navigation and error pages and other similar features.
In October 2014, the_simple_computer wrote that even though SRWare Iron released under the BSD licence, the latest source code publicly available at the time was incomplete and for version 6, even though the binaries were on version 14; source code was moved to RapidShare in 2013, with external access blocked, effectively making the program "entirely closed source". In the same year, Lifehacker wrote that SRWare had not released the browser's source code for years. In 2015, SRWare temporarily resumed releasing the source code for the browser.{{cite web|url=http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_download.php|title=SRWare Iron - The Browser of the Future|author=SRWare|work=srware.net|access-date=21 July 2015}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}