I jumped into the deep water, making Zen my default browser on my work Mac. On my Linux box, I’ve been using Zen for a couple of days. So far, I feel like Zen is fixing a problem I don’t have - or don’t have anymore.

I’ve used Arc Browser before, so I’m familiar with the concept of a single browser having different containers. My case is the classic one: one for work, one for personal stuff (maybe one for shopping down the road). The way the tabs are configured is a nice touch: it’s good to have “essential” tabs I use all the time, and nested tabs (or tab folders?) could be helpful at work when I have several tickets open in ServiceNow.

However, my current arrangement is pretty solid already.

On my Mac, I have Edge installed. This is my work browser, as pretty much mandated (I can use whatever I want, but officially, Edge is the supported browser), and as such, it’s synced to my work profile along with Office365. Meanwhile, on the personal side, I’ve been using Orion, which is built on top of Safari. It looks and feels very different from Edge, which further helps distinguish the two workflows.

I usually work with two Spaces on my Mac: the left one for personal stuff, the right one for work. It’s easy to switch between my work and personal environment.

On Linux, the separation is even better with Activities. Not only can I switch “spaces” or virtual desktop, I can also have a completely different environment, complete with it’s on applications, shortcuts and wallpaper (here is an example where I use two different instances of Emacs: one for work, one for personal; the theme even looks different). So not only do I switch to Edge on Linux when I need to work, but I also switch to a different Emacs instance and a work-related wallpaper.

So, I’d say I’m pretty good already.

There are a few “glitches” in my current setup though that maybe would make more sense if I only use Zen on the Mac. For example, if I open a link from my Teams or Outlook app, it will open in Orion, my personal browser. I’ve been using Velja to resolve this. In short, Velja is a browser “chooser” based on a few conditions such as the URL I’m opening or what App I am using. It doesn’t work smoothly though, especially with Microsoft Teams and Outlook, which seem to somehow bypass it even though it’s marked as the default browser.

Orion itself has a few issues. Some sites won’t open, or will get “stuck” loading. This is usually because of enhanced privacy settings and blockers, but sometimes I have to quit the browser and relaunch it to get it to work, even if I turn those off for the site. It doesn’t happen often enough to be really annoying, but it’s a reminder that Orion still has a few wrinkles that need to be worked on.

Zen and its workflow can offer a few interesting things. Having my “every day” browser on Linux could be nice, and I could even let it through the VPN so I have no issues at all with it, making my Linux desktop even better in terms of work (it’s getting to the point that it’s just more convenient to work with Linux over macOS) - but I’m not sure I’m comfortable for this lack of separation.

Well, OK then. Let’s give it a few days and see what happens.