Been on chrome for like 12 years. Syncs across my phone, everything. I will make the switch. I have been wondering when google was going to go evil. Why not 2023 like everything else on the internet?
2 years from now Firefox will have blocked adblockers, and there will be chromium based browsers (not Chrome) that won't have them blocked.
I don't see why people seem to be thinking a large company in a capitalistic landscape isn't going to side with profits. Firefox will oppose it openly right now and take the new users and then move to the same without lube and without apologies.
Small browsers that still have some morals before going public will build browers off chromium because of its ease, and they will be able to exclude those blocks. Likely means we will be using different browsers every few years until something else changes.
Maybe I'm pessimistic here, but anyone who just moved from Reddit to Lemmy should know that Firefox isn't the answer, it is another greed driven overlord.
Mimicking the tokens on the otherhand... those sites we will need to boycott if possible.
I love this quote, it exactly sums up my sentiments.
I'm actually looking forward to it, because it will finally force me to go cold turkey on so many bullshit websites I don't need in my life anyway, which I was never able to do on my own, because the addiction simply is there. But not as strong ans my hatred of fingerprinting and advertisements.
same, I think I might start reading more books again, I wanted to do that for a long time now but I never head "enough" time as I always spent so much time on the internet
Feels bad but I can't condone this behaviour anymore and I feel ashamed that I haven't seen the greed Google is capable of doing.
In the coming months I will do my best to migrate away from the Google system, even if I end up paying a tad more, maybe just in time to set up a home server for photos.
Oh, but it will not be GOOGLE's next step. I dont think it is the goal anyway. They only need to help site owners to sign up to their WEI thing, and there will be oh so many incentives. Google will be happy to license it out, or even make the toolkit fully opensource, to whoever wants to implement it in their browser, regardless of the engine used. Their obvious ultimate goal is to show the ads with no interruptions, which also happens to be the desire of most of the websites. And many websites will willingly implement it on their side, they do not really need too much encouragement.
There is no way anything like this would ever go through. Google's own lawyers would quickly put a stop at this. It is known that Google sometimes has used features that for Firefox is problematic at least for YouTube, but it eventually is resolved by changes in FF
I dont understand when people think Firefox didn't have their shit together. Been using it since 2006 and never had an issue. Ya'll must be doing some serious browsing.
Been using since release. I never felt like I was making some kind of compromise by using it. Firefox always had their shit together from my experience.
Now, it's on par with Chrome or better than (tradeoffs and personal preference), even for developing web apps. Firefox dev tools pull ahead of Chrome's, then Chrome catches up and does something new and useful, then Firefox catches up, and so forth.
Firefox is good. It's not like "I'm leaving Photoshop for the GIMP" kind of thing-- It's like "I'm leaving Honda for Toyota."
When chrome was released, Firefox felt bloated visually and slow. I switched to chrome with the initial release, then tried to come back to Firefox some years later. Still felt like it was slow.
Im back trying it again. The desktop browser seems to work alright, but I'm growing weary of the Android app.
Did they lift the "only curated extensions" bullshit yet? I'm on Kiwi just to be able to run my own (unpacked) extensions that FF doesn't let me do so.
Firefox has never not had it's shit together. It's worked fine. I never understood people having issues with it, unless they were running like 50 extensions and a bunch of grease monkey scripts along with a crusty old profile with a massive cache of old data.
Meanwhile everyone is complaining about Chrome eating up all their RAM
Funnily enough Chromium actually consumes less RAM and is safer due to better sandboxing.
But neither of these concern the average user. However, the main difference between the browsers user may notice is how pages that are still loading behave. Firefox has the correct behavior. Aka waiting for vast majority of the elements to finish loading versus Chromium just going "if it's rendered it's intractable." This unfortunately means that Firefox feels slower even though it's actually faster.
Also, on behalf of the dark mode enjoyers, flashing white for a moment while launching, loading web pages or updating contents of a webpage is incredibly annoying. None of the Chromium browsers flash white on dark mode.
Any idea if Firefox has a good translation extension? Like Chrome has Google translate that actively translates the sites you enter into English.
I live in a country that I don't speak the language of, so I often need to use websites and translate them to English, which is why I've been stuck with Chrome.
There are 36 pages of translation extensions. The official one works without the cloud, which is pretty unique.
Personally I like the Immersive Translate extension. You can select your preferred translation engine (cloud based, but it supports many) and it shows you both the translated text and original text by alternating the paragraphs.
Sadly the only thing it's lacking. Saw a couple of years ago they were looking at different technologies to implement it client side for privacy reasons.
@NamesArrHard@clearleaf, better than a extension is to use this one for Desktop, so you can use it independent of the browser.
It's FOSS, multiengine for 125 languages, customizable shortcuts, Windows and Linux
I don't think FF supports PWAs yet. I need to use Chromium to turn some sites like Discord into PWAs, as the desktop Linux version doesn't screen share on Wayland. I also like having YTM as an app.
There have been quite a few questionable decisions by Mozilla though, they have focused on some very weird things, not to mention scandals about management salaries (No idea how it is now). I really really hope they will not follow suite which honestly is not as far fetched as one could think.
Does Firefox support multiple windows on iPad OS yet? That was the reason I stayed with Chrome for so long, and also is why I've more recently switched to Edge as the only other cross-platform browser I could find that had that.
I'm not sure, but Firefox on iOS isn't true Firefox. To my knowledge, Apple doesn't allow browsers to use anything but their Safari engine. As another user put it, "Firefox on iOS is barely more than a skin for Safari."
I can speak to Firefox on desktop and Android, however: they're fantastic!
Firefox is the only browser on Android which still doesn't have tabs. Wrangling multiple tabs on a tablet or foldable is just a pain on Firefox. Chrome on standard screen sizes even has tab groups. Until then, Firefox is a no go for me.
They may kill this iteration of ad blockers. But there will always be another and another. Google has a lot of smart people working for them. There are also a lot of smart people in the FOSS community that will eventually find a way around it.
At the end of the day there will still be people recording songs by holding two boom boxes together.
Donate to orgs like the EFF, Mozilla, and the FSF. Lobby your congressperson, your senators, and Biden to make the FTC to start doing its goddamn job again and enforce antitrust law.
The only real solution to this creeping megalomaniacal monopolistic behavior is legislative.
Except safari of course (almost 20% market share).
Also, there are plenty of other browsers using Mozilla’s gecko engine. A quote from Wikipedia:
“ Other web browsers using Gecko include GNU IceCat, Waterfox, K-Meleon, Lunascape, Portable Firefox, Conkeror, Classilla, TenFourFox.” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko_(software))
Firefox have the same problem with the WEI filter, they also have to insert in Firefox the Google Token, same as any other, if he want to enter a Web with this fucking filter, anyway Mozilla will do this in FF precisely because several Google devs in Mozilla which are working on FF (Bad decision of Mozilla to have Google as main sponsor). Ad/trackerblocker are not the problem in Vivaldi, it has inbuild the needed filters (even those to block Cookie advices and adblocker warnings) and until now it has gutt out every Google intent with FloC, IdleAPI and others to control the Chromium base (remember, also Chromium is FOSS and customizable,above with first class devs Vivaldi has), also don't have and don't depends on extern inversors, but this fucking WEI DRM of websites is a greater problem and need to be avoided by ALL browser companies which are not Google in common, if there is not a genius which invent something to fake this Google Token. We'll see.
I noticed my YouTube become extremely slow. I was using edge for watching videos. Chrome eats the ram and this ad block makes it easier to just switch. The next attemp would be how to avoid them showing use chrome whenever I google or use gmail or so.
I'm from the Philippines and I can explain why, at least here, most people still use chrome. Over here, we're much more concerned about our money and time over our rights and privacy, which means we usually just choose the most convenient and cheap money-wise, which is why the majority of us still use chrome and why the government here can get away with so much shit. we don't care about our rights not because we're being given bread and circuses, but because we're too busy making a circus out of ourselves so we can buy bread.
Lol. The privacy bits are what always make me doubt people who say they use iOS for privacy reasons. They'll scream that and then install every google service they can on the same phone.
Most people just use the default browser on their phone, even in developed countries. Add to that Google's constant nagging to switch to Chrome which has a powerful effect at keeping their dominance.
I use Google Docs a lot and the only reason I haven't uninstalled Chrome is that, for whatever reason, the fonts don't display right on Firefox. They used to years ago but I suspect they changed something to negatively impact other browsers.
Why? It does everything a non-techie would expect from browser and it performs well, why switch to something else?
That said I think Chrome is a terrible Chromium based browser. Edge and Vivaldi in my opinion are much better options. Edge for most folk and Vivaldi for more adventurous types.
I use Chrome and Firefox it really isn't all that baffling when certain sites just break on Firefox or a dev doesn't use the browser to promote their product.
This is just more of the same. Every time some company thinks they've thrown enough money at the problem to DRM their way to success, somebody inevitably finds a fix, workaround, or bypass. Sometimes within a single day.
The main issue is that no-one in past, be it movie, music, or gaming industry, had the control which Google has with the web.
Web is 90% Chromium, Email is 60+% Gmail, Android is 70+% mobile worldwide, and Google already provides a lot of things like Google login, oAuth, etc. for free.
This means for a web dev, making a website WEI compatible shouldn't be much of a hassle, and if they protest, Google can totally twist their arms to get us way.
WEI is dangerous because who's behind it, not because what it is.
Not to mention AdSense and YouTube with whatever percentages they control of their respective markets. Google holds a lot of separate monopolies for just one company
Stopped even looking at chrome since yrs. If they force their services even via chrome based browsers, I will dump their offerings as much as possible.
Google has kicked up such a revolt that I find it easy to convince everyone to use Firefox. If they think they can keep abusing their userbase like this, then they are in for a surprise.
We know how it will impact Firefox. They will be deeply concerned with WEI and extremely opposing it, but will implement it anyway because they are forced to do it.
With most competing browsers and the content industry embracing the W3C EMEWEI specification, Mozilla has little choice but to implement EMEWEI as well so our users can continue to access all content they want to enjoy.
Someone will most likely create a fork to remove this or an option to disable it will probably be baked into about:config. I don't visit many sites that use DRM. When I do visit sites that require it, I'll usually shift to Ungoogled Chromium or Brave.
Another one of my major fears with this change is whether Google will decide to make Chromium closed source and the implications it can have for other chromium based browsers.
Edit: Since there was some confusion in the comments about what FireDragon is, I will explain it here. FireDragon is the default browser on Garuda Linux. FireDragon is a fork of Librewolf, which is in-turn a fork of Firefox. Librewolf's main goal is to provide the most privacy possible to its user, though it might be at the cost of some sites breaking. FireDragon is a fork of Librewolf, it reduces some of the privacy settings that Librewolf uses, in order for sites to not break, but while still retaining most of the privacy features. dr460nf1r3 the developer of FireDragon said "This fork ships saner defaults to also include regular (not paranoid 😋) users of Garuda Linux in its audience" [1] Paragraph 2, Line 6
FireDragon from my perspective is focused around Garuda Linux, so a lot of its features are designed for users of Garuda Linux in mind.
Your bank will implement WEI API. Facebook will too, same as Gmail or Youtube. Any browser that does not support or has removed the WEI API will not be able to display or use any of those websites. It's the same with Netflix or Spotify - if you try to use it in a more privacy-centered browser, it simply does not work - because it those browsers do not support EME API (which is a DRM that was implemented few years ago, but for media). Firefox was against it, by the way. Firefox also quickly backed down and implemented it anyway once it rolled out, because "We ArE FoRcEd tO Do It", due to their already dwindling marketshare and people complaining and switching to other browsers because their shit ain't working on Firefox.
Everyone keeps saying "I will never use a browser that does support WEI!", but somehow it feels like they don't really realize that their internet will simply stop working for most of the content they consume, since there's no reason for Google or Facebook to not use this opportunity to forcefeed more ads to people.
Baffling seeing the "well, [chromium based browser] has adblock in [X Y Z] form." Use the browser that will actually prevent this from disaster from happening again, which is Firefox.
I've actually looked at the papers published, and I don't even understand how what they're proposing could possibly cause adblock removal. Web Environment Integrity happens at a layer before things like adblock even loads. They're completely independent processes. So the whole thing feels like misdirected fear imo.
So... to answer your question. Never.
You should fear though. This will give Google unprecedented control over the internet. Just not fear for adblock.
I don't think post is talking about Web Environment Integrity. I instead think that it's talking about Manifest v3 as the Chrome web store now blocks Manifest v2 extensions from being submitted - with support expected to be removed from Chrome in 2024.
I honestly don't get people that say "I use Chrome because I'm used to it". It's not like Firefox and Chrome are immensely different when it comes to UX, right? The interface is pretty similar.
Sure. But I also professionally use a product that works better on Chrome (and Edge nowadays) so I'm lazy about it. Eventually I'll move to Firefox on my home PC. But in on my work PC and phone 95% of the time already so it's not going to make a huge dent.
Web Environment Integrity API, an API that will gather metadata about your system setup, hardware and software, as well as if you have any extensions installed. Only WEI compliant browsers will be able to view WEI compliant webpages.
Tbh instagram is just a shithole because every post is someone flexing their influencer deal, trying to sell you some bullshit.
The rest are just true ads hosted by facebook (as far as i'm aware, since you can't advertise on instagram without a facebook account).
I'm using an adblock on firefox and my internet on my pc is decent, it actually feels like i'm using the internet compared to it using me to shovel ads into my face.
Edge on (android, not sure about iOS) mobile has "Adblock Plus" built in that can be enabled. Sure, I'd rather UBlock Origin like on my pc but when/if that stops working on Edge desktop, I wonder if they'd add a similar built in thing to desktop...
Adblock Plus, Created to Protect Users From Ads, Instead Opens the Door
in 2011, Adblock Plus was altered and became a tool that, instead of blocking bad ads, allowed ads it deemed “acceptable” to be seen, often for a price — a controversial move that has positioned it as a gatekeeper between advertisers and its huge user base.
“We are called Adblock Plus, and for branding reasons, we are not going to call ourselves something different. But if we could, we would call ourselves something like ‘web customizer,’ because that’s really what we want to do for our users.”
It's better than Chrome (which has no ad-blocker at all) but I find it doesn't block those insane pop-ups like uBlock on Firefox do. Kinda wish Microsoft would just bring their Add-on store on mobile Edge.