A eulogy for Arc

To everyone gathered here today, we are here to remember Arc.

Arc was one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. A friend showed it to me back in 2022 and I still remember how i was blown away by it. It solved so many of my frustrations with Chrome. Back then Arc was Mac only, I didn't even have one but the day I got a mac, Arc was one of the first things i installed and it genuinely changed how I thought about browsers.

Arc had so many great features and little quality of life improvements that it’d honestly take another post just to list them all. but here's 3 that come to mind right now:

• with chrome switching between your work and personal profile meant juggling separate windows but with Arc I could just swipe between spaces

• the one where you can hover over gmail and quickly check your emails without even opening it

• the capture tool that perfectly frames and captures any part of a webpage

I also loved how they shipped new features every thursday. I'd actually look forward to them and loved reading the release notes. Using Arc felt personal in a way few other software ever has. In hindsight it feels obvious that the place i spend most of my time on a computer should feel personal but Arc was one of the first to actually get it right.

I don't blame The Browser Company for dreaming big and abandoning Arc (although they could’ve communicated better) because these are extraordinary times we're living in and if you don't take a moonshot now, then when?

I'm still bullish on the team, they have incredible taste and know how to build things people want and enjoy using. I just wish they would figure out a way to open source Arc so the community could keep it alive. It would never feel the same without the team's active involvement but it's the best we could make out of a bad situation.

I tried Dia for a couple of days but the funny thing is that The Browser Company made something so perfect with Arc that I had no incentive to switch to anything else (until now).

If you had asked me three years ago if I’d ever pay for a browser I'd have thought you were crazy. But today I’d happily pay for Arc (and i believe so would a lot of people) because that’s how much value it brings.

Rest in pixels, Arc. You changed the way I use the internet forever.