The end of Arc - From a Windows users perspective

I have been incredibly excited for Arc since the Windows version got announced. I was looking for a more aesthetically pleasing and functional browser. It was an itch that Chrome, Firefox or Opera simply cannot scratch, regardless of how many extensions and themes you install. I always loved the polish of MacOS and Arc felt like that was it - but on Windows.

Fast forward a year and I have to say, I am incredibly disappointed. Not only by the actions of The Browser Company but by the Windows release as a whole. And now after more than a year of waiting to finally get Arc on Windows, they are just giving up? I understand it's a business, and businesses need profit to operate, but this latest announcement feels like a slap in the face especially to all the Windows users - let me explain why.

Most of the MacOS users who had access to Arc since 2022 are probably not aware of just how bad the Windows beta experience was. I signed up to the waitlist with about 5 different emails in the hopes of increasing my chances of getting in early but the date kept getting shifted, first from winter, then to spring and before you know it we were in summer and that beta invite email was nowhere to be seen.

Then one day, out of nowhere, I got an email saying - "YOU GOT ACCEPTED TO THE ARC WINDOWS BETA" and of course, I was over the moon. I sprinted to my computer, opened up gmail and frantically scrolled through my emails until I saw it. I clicked on the download link and in a few seconds the installer was downloaded. I double clicked on it and to my disappointment a message popped up - "We're sorry, but Arc is currently only supported on Windows 11". That was the second time that Arc disappointed me. Keep in mind, the sign up form for the Windows beta explicitly asked which Windows operating system you are using, so I was confused why I even got sent the email if Arc doesn't work on my operating system but still I shrugged it off and moved on with my life.

Fast forward 5 months, I already kind of forgot about Arc and moved on to other browsers like Vivaldi and Brave but that itch for the perfect browser was still there. So I randomly tried the beta installer again, but this time it worked. Nearly 5 months later they finally remembered us Windows 10 users. Well, my excitement was very short lived because the second I opened up Arc I realized this was not even close to what it was hyped up to be. Sure it's a beta release, but comparing it to the amazing looks and features of the MacOS version I've seen online, it really didn't live up to the expectations. It was a barely functional skeleton of a browser that was using up resources like crazy. That was the third time I got disappointed by this company, but still I kept using it in hopes of one day finally getting the experience we were promised. I actually believed in their vision.

That brings us to current day, I finally upgraded to Windows 11 which made the Arc experience somewhat better (only in terms of looks). I have been using Arc on Windows 11 for a few months now and it's my main browser. To tell the truth, I was actually starting to enjoy it. I learned to ignore the glaring issues that it has, like no actual settings menu, how changing the theme color is basically blindly dragging a circle around a gray square until you find a color you somewhat like and the lack of actual features. Every update was just pointless fluff and the only "actual" update we got was a gimmicky AI tool that I have not used once since it was added. That was until a few days ago, when the CEO came out with the amazing announcement that they won't be updating and improving Arc anymore (as if it's even close to a finished product) to focus on a new project.

And that was it, this has been the fourth time I have been disappointed by this company. I had belief in their vision and their ability to somehow make this work, but not anymore. I think I speak for a lot of people in this community when I say that I lost all trust in this company and their future endeavors. How can we trust them to deliver anything in the future when they can't even stay focused on a single project for more than a year? This was the first time I felt that a company was actually making a product for the user. That they actually understood what we wanted and built a passionate community around this idea. Turns out it's just another silicon valley startup doing tricks for investor money.

I apologize for this long rant but I'm very frustrated that I waited over a year for nothing and that I will have to switch browsers AGAIN.