There was already a browser called Epiphany and Galeon was changed to mirror the features in Epiphany even if that meant there were less features than in Galeon 1.2.x and removal of features was unpopular with the users.

https://noone.org/blog/English/Computer/Web/Browsers/Galeon%...

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that Phoenix, later renamed Firefox, was developed for Windows first. Linux development was considered an afterthought. It was recommended to use Mozilla or Seamonkey.

"[Galeon fork] Epiphany's main goal is to be integrated with the gnome desktop. We don't aim to make epiphany usable outside Gnome. If someone will like to use it anyway, it's just a plus. Ex: Making people happy that don't have control center installed is not a good reason to have mime configuration in epiphany itself."

https://web.archive.org/web/20051028022736/http://gnomedeskt...

"As such, we've reached the conclusion that we have to change our approach if we're going to avoid Galeon getting stale or bit-rotting"

"Epiphany has a bunch of active maintainers who are handling the things that we struggle to do for Galeon. But you say: Epiphany doesn't fit my needs or I'd be using it already! True, so our proposal is to bring Galeon to Epiphany."