Technology

yep firefox with arkenfox for me, same deal as librewolf. And Mull on mobile.

Switched about 2-3 months ago thinking it might be difficult or impact me negatively or something but its been easy and great.

We’re going to have a serious problem on our hands soon with compatibility. I’m a software dev and I’m already seeing a few issues here and there where Chrome is being treated as the default expected browser and features don’t work on Firefox.

It's basically IE6 and ActiveX all over again.

Most "Chrome-only" web applications I have to use I can get around just by changing my user agent string and everything works fine. I try not to use that stuff when I can, though.

Firefox doesn’t support a fair few Chrome features because of security and privacy reasons, such as WebHID, WebUSB

I'm very serious about my opinion that we are better off without them. If the feature does not exist, it cannot be activated by a bug in the permission system, and also the lesser technically inclined people won't allow them by reflex/accident

I just don't use services that don't work with Firefox. Easy.

I'm using Firefox as my only browser. If everything works in Firefox that's fine for me.

That's the best advantage of only making websites / web applications for fun (for friend groups, video games, family etc)

The cool kids are switching to Librewolf because whatever is happening at Mozilla is increasingly concerning by the day.

Some of us never left.

I sure hope so. I've been on team Mozilla for a long time, but right at this critical moment they are starting to wobble. Their CEO seems to be steering them in a direction that I don't agree with.

(I still believe Firefox is the best option right now; but I'm a little concerned for the future.)

I believe their new slogan is "Fuck em', what they gonna do!?".

It wasn't hard to foresee. We knew these kind of things could happen. The internet used to be very out spoken about it. That ethos is long gone. What's equally disappointing is tech nerds selling out for bigger paychecks.

It gets me thinking. Tech literate people are the types to install blockers, and would be the same type of people both motivated and knowledgeable about how to switch browsers. On the line of thinking it seems like it is just going to drive them away from Chrome. Tech illiterate people remain unaffected since they are getting ads anyway.

But then on the other hand, if someone is tech literate then why are they even still using Chrome? Does such a person value whatever advantage Chrome theoretically provides over their ad-blocking?

The closest I can find is

https://www.ghacks.net/2024/10/01/mozillas-massive-lapse-in-judgement-causes-clash-with-ublock-origin-developer/

Which is only the "lite" version (which really has no reason to be used in firefox) and was likely based on an improper scan. Which happens constantly and is usually an email and a few days of waiting rather than immediately going to the press.

If you can find something about Mozilla actually being anti-adblock or disabling manifest v2 that would be incredibly useful. But maybe be aware of what is going on before vaguely making major claims?

In fact, uBlock Origin is one of the officially recommended extensions by Mozilla

uBO Lite was incorrectly flagged as violating policy by someone at Mozilla, but rather than appeal that decision in any capacity at all, the developer just removed the add-on entirely without responding to Mozilla. The original decision was almost certainly just an error.

For those of us who work in (or love) tech - we (myself included) grossly overestimate how much the general public cares about, or cares to be informed about, this stuff. Heck, even people in tech who know better.

I wish it wasn’t the case but look how long and hard Microsoft moved on Internet Explorer and ActiveX back in the early days of the web.

Google and Chrome is just another bit of history repeating.

As an aside, I’ve been using Zen for about a week and it’s been wonderful. Easy transition from Firefox because it largely is Firefox, so all my containers, extensions, and settings carried over. Zen’s workspaces provide exactly the promise I’d hoped “tab groups” brought with Safari (but never worked right). I just wish there was an equivalent to the Hush plug-in on Safari (even after a year of full-timing FF, consent-o-matic is quite poor).

It's not about intelligence it's about what keeps you up at night. Most people aren't bothered by cookies and ads, somehow.

I kinda have to at work. Our classroom computers reset between classes and Chrome is the only browser installed. I might ask IT about that, moving forward, given uBlock getting neutered soon.