Firefox is the way. If you haven’t tried Firefox since 2008, you should. It is as fast as Chrome. It has improved significantly since 2008.
They’re also prioritising a few great and much needed QoL improvements like vertical tabs, tab grouping and a new Profile Management system!
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/heres-what-were-working-on-in-firefox/
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Instead of being a dick about it, why don’t you show what they’re doing and why you don’t like it, so we can all be educated and/or have a conversation about it, so everyone can decide for themselves if it’s a problem for them?
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I think it’s time you actually were terminally offline dude. You’re being an asshole. Nobody is trying to put one over on you.
Probably because they knew it’d devolve into stupid comments like yours. Honestly what were you trying to achieve by just baselessly calling someone a Mozilla shill?
But for anybody curious, the “AI” that Mozilla will be implementing is entirely optional, trained on open source datasets that have been ethically sourced, works entirely offline, is run locally, and doesn’t send your personal info to Mozilla.
It will be used for things like better offline translation, finding alternate sources for articles if you want to find them, spotting fake reviews, as well as accessibility features like a better screen reader and image descriptions for images without a manually added description tag.
Personally my issues with AI are pretty much entirely related to stealing training data, and using AI as an excuse to push more ads and scrape more userdata. That’s not the case here, and this should not be treated like Google/MS’s AI features.
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(Not the person you responded to)
I’m curious, what exactly are your issues with the AI implementations the poster above you mentioned?
Because to me, they seem like very specific usecases where they actually offer benefits. It doesn’t seem like someone just went “everyone is doing ai… Let’s slap ai on Firefox so we stay one of the cool kids!”.
Example: I live in a country where I don’t speak the language. Instead of using a plugin for Firefox which translates e.g. government sites by sending them to Google translate, FF has been handling this locally for a couple of months now. Seems like a win to me.
Similarly, I imagine that vision impaired folks will receive a real benefit by not having to deal with the way-too-large number of websites not providing alt tags for images.
If (yes, I know, big IF) the models FF ships are indeed ethically trained and run fully locally… Then I kinda don’t get the issue
Firefox Containers are a game changer.
Only if you could choose the default container for the new tabs instead having to long press the new tab button and selecting it manually.
You can absolutely do that.
Came here to say this. I wish other browsers would catch up to Firefox and add this feature for when I have to use them (esp. Chrome/Edge).
Not that benchmarks matter a whole lot these days, but I think for some benchmarks it was faster than Chrome. It’s close enough to not even be a factor, in any case.
Also, it has a feature that Chrome seemingly has no analogue for, and that is: containers.
I never entirely stopped using Firefox. I still use Chrome alongside Firefox for certain things at work.
It had its lows and highs in my opinion. But yeah Firefox on desktop is a great experience right now. Sadly I can’t say that about mobile version, it’s frustrating to say the least.
I had some issues with Firefox and have switched to Brave. It’s been working just fine.
Brave is Chromium based. UBlock will be affected by the changes.
Stop using Google products
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
Linux phones need to get good asap cause im ready to ditch android at a seconds notice.
Careful, the ArchPhone is closer than you think haha.
Hate that the overwhelming majority of phones don’t have the ability to just install an alternative OS. I know it’s because of hardware, but holy hell, the amount of hardware on PCs Linux supports is massive, and only a fraction of it is hardware that has released any real specifications to create a Free version of its driver. I don’t think we’ve really concentrated on creating such things for phones in the same way or we’d be able to throw a phone UI version of Linux on nearly any phone out there. As it is, each alternative is limited to half a dozen or a little more of generally the same phones, and they’re generally expensive as hell.
Where’s my btw I use Arch phone? Because I want my btw I use Arch phone.
Linux phones might already be good, that’s not the issue.
The issue is apps like my bank app, I need to be able to access and manage my bank accounts from my phone. How is that going to work on a non android phone?
If there is a solution for things like that, I’ll drop Google in a heartbeat
Could just do a de-googled phone.
Ive had a pixel before with grapheneos but that comes with its own problems, it still uses google services just in a sandbox.
Its cool but I just ended up switching back to normal android because Id rather deal with google entirely or not at all. Not some half and half bs which is unfortunately what android is. Even at the most basic form AOSP is basically unusable without some random google service running in the background.
You don’t have to use Google services. They are fully optional, and not installed by default. AOSP/GrapheneOS without Google services is very usable, there are only very few things you can’t do without proprietary services. You still have the option to create a separate user profile (which are also improved by GrapheneOS btw) to install Google Play services, and keep it isolated from the rest of your apps and data.
One option is:
Powered by LibertOS, our proprietary privacy OS with custom precise controls, advanced encryption, a no-trace VPN, Messenger, and a robust antivirus.
proprietary privacy
Those are basically opposites right next to each other.
They’re already good with Android.
Imagine driving to work thinking “ today’s the day we finally help those ads get through “
Nah, working at Google means sleeping at Google. There’s no driving to work /s
That’s not a new concept, look up “mining towns” or Detroit.
Thanks, babe, I’m perfectly aware it’s not new. I just find it ironic that a tech company would invest in dorms instead of remote work 😾
Kind of like Ready Player One then…
I didn’t think of that movie, but you’re right!
The book is better and way nerdier. If you want ultimate nerdiness, the audiobook is narrated by Wil Wheaton!
I don’t know how he wasn’t audibly smiling when he read the part about himself though.
Or EPCOT
That actually sounds kinda nice until you get fired. Lose your job and home in the same week.
And your health insurance!
The main problem with company towns is that the company leverages its monopoly and charges you a lot for everything.
I’m going to be honest. If that work was making me 6 figures, I would sleep like a baby.
6 figures isn’t all that much these days. They say everyone has a price, but you’re a bargain.
I switched to Firefox 6 months ago as a test experiment. I literally have NO REASON to ever open chrome again. Imported my passwords and the transition was smooth as butter. And I am a stubborn turd that hates change. Firefox plus Ublock origin and superagent fixed everything wrong with the internet for me.
What gets me about this change is that it hurts enterprise more than anybody. I don’t use chrome anymore for anything in my personal life, and haven’t in several years now. However, it’s the only browser I can use for work. 🤷🏻♂️
I’m similarly wondering about these changes getting ported to MS Edge. I have Ublock Origin on Edge on my work computer now, but if they move Edge to Manifest v3 then I guess Ublock won’t work, then my work browser will be less secure.
superagent
How’s that vs just enabling the built-in lists i uBO?
Does Ublock do cookie settings? I used superagent so I never see those cookie pop ups, it just declines all optional cookies.
Built-in:
AdGuard – Cookie Notices
EasyList – Cookie Notices
uBlock filters – Cookie Notices
and you can also add:
“I don’t care about cookies”
please use “I still don’t care about cookies”, the original one has been bought by Avast, who in turn belong to Gen Digital, owner of AVG, Norton and Avira - not the most trustworthy names anymore.
Not seeing a filter-list for uBO on their github:
and you can also add:
“I don’t care about cookies”
i referred to this part of your post - the addon does not add filter lists but skips GDPR Cookie dialogs by denying all. you can install it from addons.mozilla.org
God bless the uBlock devs.
As soon as I heard of the mere plan to do this, I ditched Chromium altogether and went back to Firefox. Ultimately, I landed on the fork Floorp.
Can you elaborate on why floorp is better than Firefox? Is it just more customization?
https://www.fastcompany.com/91038756/why-floorp-has-become-browser-of-my-dreams
Pros: vertical tabs, web apps, side panel, workspaces, many customizations. to be clear tho, Firefox has already stated they will be incorporating most of these features by version 130 or sooner.
Cons: no mobile app, video playback with DRM may be an issue on some sites, uncertain future, essentially it’s maintained by one dev so if they ever go the future is uncertain.
tl;dr, Floorp is kind of like Vivaldi with customizing and privacy in mind, but based on Firefox’s gecko engine
Thanks!
I had the exact same journey as you: Chrome to Chromium to Firefox to Floorp.
Google is collapsing because we are not the customer they serve (anymore). We are the product.
They have spoiled all the good will their brand has which means they are vulnerable to competition.
Since when were we the customer? I never paid for Google anything.
I mean a few of us are still … Android, Chromecast (Android TV), Google One, Google Suite, Google Mesh, Nest (the few products that remain).
Does this apply to chromium browsers too?
Yes. In the article it links to a blog post made by chromium.
https://blog.chromium.org/2024/05/manifest-v2-phase-out-begins.html
Browsers based on chromium do not have to follow exactly what the main branch is doing. If they want to keep supporting MV2 or support different rules for MV3, they can. Albeit it’s a bit cumbersome.
Nope. Won’t happen to those having inbuillt ad-blocker, as those are not extension and thus aren’t affected by MV3.
yup, I use Vivaldi and will never use another browser. has everything I need right in it. built in ad blocker and tracking blocker, integrated with the Fediverse, insanely customizable, and it’s lighter than firefox. I like firefox but i find it to be a ram hog.
It depends. It will not affect many of them until 2025 when enterprise support for v2 ends and by then other arrangements and fixes might be. Brave in particular I would not worry yet.
Maybe. Who the fuck knows?
Does anyone know how this could affect Brave? I’ve suggested it for non-tech Google Chrome refugees who find Firefox difficult to use.
who find Firefox difficult to use
WTF? HOW? How is it difficult to use? It works like any other web browser?!
Why would Firefox be difficult to use?
Different shortcuts, ways of customizing the browser, etc. the browser may feel like second nature to you currently, but for others, there’s friction in changing the software you’ve use for over a decade, and I say this as a current Floorp user
I guess a more honest way to phrase it is “people who are unwilling to learn a new browser”, since there’s nothing specifically difficult about Firefox.
Let the blame rest with the user that won’t learn, and not with the software they refuse to learn.
I use Floorp and JUMPED to it from Firefox because I had a mediocre Firefox experience. I fancy myself a power user and was not a fan. The idea that the majority who try Firefox and have issues are in the wrong and the minority who enjoy the experience are right seems backwards…
I still don’t see how that makes Firefox difficult.
The transition might be difficult, but I rarely see casual people use the options you describe.
It’s as easy as opening the shortcut and start browsing, I see no difference with Chrome there
I’ll be honest; I bounce between several browsers - Firefox, Chromium, Chrome, and even sometimes Edge, and sometimes it takes a second for me to even remember which one I’m looking at. Firefox is great for very specific work flows I have, but for a lot of other things, most other browsers will do.
Maybe it’s because I tend to bounce around that I find it very interesting to hear that FF is difficult to use.
What shortcuts are different? Basically most of web browser shortcuts are universal, e.g. Ctrl/Cmd + L to focus on the URL bar, F5 or Ctrl + R to reload, Alt + Left/Right arrow to go back/forward, Ctrl + D to bookmark, Ctrl + T to open a new tab, Ctrl + W to close a tab, etc. I’ve been using these for decades across different browsers, god damn they even work in Apple’s Safari
Incognito mode and reopening closed tabs.
Reopening closed tabs should be the same, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T
There is absolutely nothing difficult to use in Firefox. If anything it’s easier, as most of the settings aren’t arbitrarily hidden to prevent you from changing them. There are also fewer bullshit settings because they aren’t harvesting your data.
MV3 won’t affect inbuilt ad-blockers such as Brave’s one (or Vivaldi’s, I guess), as those are not extensions. MV3 is exclusively about extensions.
I’m not a user of brave, but I did a quick Google and it looks like they’re ad blocking will be unaffected. As for other extensions, I think that at least some will be supported for a year, while others may break immediately but I didn’t take too deep TBH
