I was all ready to roll my eyes at yet another attempt to blame all the Firefox problems on one thing or another based on superficial and emotional considerations without any data or serious analysis, but it turns out it's just the same video from a few months ago being posted yet again.
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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The video is probably factually correct, but very disingenuous with its interpretations and conclusions imo.
Of course Mozilla and Firefox have their own share of problems and bad decisions, and they are pretty well known and talked about from what I've seen, but equating it to Google and Chrome is just pure cynicism. Mozilla having to earn money somehow (1% donations!) and Google trying to maximize profits at all costs is not the same thing, even if it might look similar sometimes.
Yes, the result is: FF is the only thing we have. I tried to manually ungoogle Chromium, it sucks. Brave is shady, Vivaldi too.
Use Torbrowser, Librewolf, Arkenfox, Mullvadbrowser and contribute and donate.
What makes Vivaldi shady?
AFAIK, just that it isn't fully open source. It is source available however, but that's not the same. It's sad that they dont go through with it as Vivaldi is by far the most feature rich browser out there.
Firefox has a massive data leak issue, this is unfortunate but nothing new and it's quite easy to stop.
The thing is, the foundation goes in the completely wrong direction. Instead of developing the browser and create an actually good mobile version of it, they sink money in useless hypetrain bullshit.
For example: on Android Firefox you cannot even change the homepage.
I never see the homepage even. It shows up if you close the browser? I never do that on my phone.
Most important thing is you can change your search engine to whatever you want.
It shows up if you close the browser?
If you close all tabs, if you open a new “empty” tab, if you restart the browser, etc. Having a settable homepage is a no-brainer and I never ever stumbled across a browser that cannot set it.
They are going to make a new tab organizer though.
So we can finally have normal tabs in Firefox, too?
And the Android version doesn't even have a bookmarks toolbar. You have to go through the menu -> bookmarks -> bookmarks toolbar -> search for the bookmark
I need 6 taps to open a folder in my bookmarks bar in new "tabs". This is just ridiculous.
exactly. compared to a toolbar which would only be one click that is right on the screen.
Exactly. On desktop this also works as expected. Since the Firefox doesn't have proper quickdial (neither on desktop nor on mobile) such a functionality is absolutely necessary.
You can't login to your google account that everyone already has to sync between all your devices
😂😂😂
Some stuff is probably true though, I didn't listen to most of it. Funds are mismanaged some times (CEO).
Use librewolf and fennec/ mull if you want to support another browser.
14 minute video. Ok I'll try to view it later. The culprit is Mitchell Baker's manifesto or whatever it was called, ditching the end user principle and putting predatory companies on an equal basis, instead of trusting that they would look after themselves perfectly well. The browser should instead be 100% on the user's side. I'll look for some links when I get around to it.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/details/
- The internet is an integral part of modern life—a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.
- The internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.
- The internet must enrich the lives of individual human beings.
- Individuals’ security and privacy on the internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional.
- Individuals must have the ability to shape the internet and their own experiences on the internet.
- The effectiveness of the internet as a public resource depends upon interoperability (protocols, data formats, content), innovation and decentralized participation worldwide.
- Free and open source software promotes the development of the internet as a public resource.
- Transparent community-based processes promote participation, accountability and trust.
- Commercial involvement in the development of the internet brings many benefits; a balance between commercial profit and public benefit is critical.
- Magnifying the public benefit aspects of the internet is an important goal, worthy of time, attention and commitment.
Yes that one. Compare item 9 with https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8890.html
I'm not against commercial web activity obviously. It's just that the commercial community rightly takes its own side and does a good job of it. Mozilla should correspondingly be only on the users' side, instead of trying to be on both.
And yes I know which side supplies Mozilla with money. But a pro-user approach to the web's evolution would IMHO have resulted in browsers staying much simpler than they are now, and therefore less expensive to maintain.
I haven't seen the video, but I don't think most of the people who were using FF when it was popular and who switched to chrome later did it because of any of the points listed.
So watch the video :D
They specifically mention this issue
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/watch?v=ugnOM2mzgNU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Go to hell Mozilla. I couldn't care less if your browser fails at this point.
Amen. I use Firefox, but not because it's great or anything. It's just because Chrome/Chromium is worse in just about every aspect I care about. Seriously, I hope Mozilla dies so that it can be reborn by a different org that gives a fuck about browsers, because Mozilla sure as hell doesn't.
Mozilla only wants that sweet Google money they get paid to be the only "mainstream" alternative (500 million dollars per year). They could make the greatest opensource alternative browser and experience out there with that money, but instead they pay their CEO at least 5 million a year.
Fuck Mozilla.
Seriously, I hope Mozilla dies so that it can be reborn by a different org that gives a fuck about browsers, because Mozilla sure as hell doesn’t.
And why do you think that would happen as opposed to Chromium just becoming the only browser engine available?
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Go to hell Mozilla. I couldn’t care less if your browser fails at this point.
I share this sentiment to some point. Mozilla taking millions from Google, and making it difficult for users to DeGoogle or remove the sponsored shortcuts from their Firefox browser. But hard forking Firefox will not be a light weight task for a new project to take on for a long time. I hope the stronger pushing of ads by Google in the Chrome/Chromium browser will make some more people switch back to Firefox.
I dont think Mozilla makes degoogling hard. It is very easy to keep track of the changes and simply flip some switches.
But it is of course ironic that their product is useless.
People used Firefox because Internet Explorer sucked. Now they get ads for Chrome everywhere, have Android and whatnot devices, and Edge is working okay.
People are using devices as appliances, they dont expect needing to repair something they bought new.
I dont think Mozilla makes degoogling hard. It is very easy to keep track of the changes and simply flip some switches.
Some switched ? Have you checked all the connections a Firefox browser makes ? In case you didn't know Mozilla push notifications is hosted on a Google server.
Arkenfox, Librewolf, Torbrowser, MullvadBrowser.
Those switches. It is not easy but it is possible, unlike on Chromium, where after applying even policies it constantly pings Google.
Arkenfox, Librewolf, Torbrowser, MullvadBrowser. Those switches.
I stand corrected.
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It really is crazy if you see the hype for the "sovereign tech fund" for GNOME, that was literally just 1mio€.
It is so insane how people can waste so much money.
When donating, nowadays I am often very certain that giving money to homeless people will always be better than giving it random "nonprofit" "charities" that will simply sustain their 1st world lifes as "operation expenses".
I don't remember exactly what i've seen but it's was a research on how many non-profit org and the like you could really trust and it's like 10 for all the thousand there is
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