Its the only thing making is a good choice, while people choose Brave, TorBrowser or Librewolf instead.
Come and join the discussion.
Firefox needs to have some courage. Get rid of all those fake funding by Ad companies. Block Ads and trackers by default. Actually. Dont use damn Google as that contract will run out anyways.
Chrome is the Google browser. Firefox simply offering nothing more (on the outside) than it.
What do you think? Do you use Firefox out of the Box? Or another browser?
Mozilla needs funding. By taking money from Google and DuckDuckGo specifically for search it allows Firefox to remain independent and the software it produces is underpins lots of other even more independent privacy respecting software.
The eco system around Firefox needs Firefox to survive. Unless a better funding source comes along Firefox would be in jeopardy. Having. Said that Thunderbird has been successfully turned around due to a well run community pursuing donations and volunteers.
It would also be good if countries stumped up some of the funding Mozilla and other crucial open source projects like Linux need, to maintain a strong software ecosystem. Similar to how many European countries fund national broadcasters to maintain media diversity.
unfortunate in that keeping a modern browser up to date is a serious task when you need to compete with the agenda and scale of google etc
fortunate in that its a relatively simple solution, the community needs to fund the software.
its tough though as i can imagine if they pulled the kind of popup shit wikipedia does, it will just drive people away. what people don't realise ofc is that with chrome you are paying for it (with your data), but for some reason they're not viewed in the equivalent light.
Most people still don't understand how paying with their data affects things. Even "fuck the govt they're tracking us" types don't care that....... They're literally doing exactly that.
Nobody wants to listen to us and call us crazy until Google decides one day after you move that they don't like your new wifi and permanently lock you out even though you still know your password.
Until people are willing to give up convenience for privacy, we're stuck with these financial models unfortunately.
LibreWolf and the Tor browser would not exist as they do today if Mozilla was not taking money from Google and DuckDuckGo and all those ad companies to develop Firefox as free open source software that could be forked by privacy-forward groups.
So sure, it would be nice if Mozilla made a privacy-focused Firefox version natively, but if a handful of concessions (that I can continue to turn off) are what it takes to have a performant, full-featured, modern FOSS web browser, I'll take that deal.
I'll emphasise that the "handful of concessions" are concessions to usability, not to having to share data with Google or DuckDuckGo. Firefox is still an incredibly private browser, especially if you consider the rest of the landscape.
I'm OK with a custom script editing Firefox after install. As long as Google supplies them money they shouldn't budge at all. Yes, maybe they could be a bit more directed, but the day Google doesn't want to fund them anymore is the day we're royally screwed.
Do what you're doing FF, just maybe be more determined in your actions.
Havent you heard that Google will probably not pay Firefox again? Their contract is soon over.
Once this happens, they have to really offer different arguments, and ootb privacy is not currently one of them.
I understand that speed etc is important. But it seems Firefox is worse here, as "google caching everything" will always be faster. In Chrome and Edge I think the search engines always load in the background to show results so blazingly fast. Like 5 seconds on FF, 1s on Chrome both Google.
Used to use arkenfox, then switched to LibreWolf. Eventually switched back to Firefox w/ Betterfox cuz i got annoyed with some websites and QR codes breaking
You can check out Betterfox here, its a user.js file that focuses having a balance between privacy and convenience (with less website breakage cuz it's not as strict like something like arkenfox)
Mullvad for when I’m just browsing, and then if I want something in bookmarks synced everywhere, or if it’s a site broken by Mullvad, I’ll copypaste to Firefox with the possible privacy issue features turned off.
Oh I meant all the features that might needlessly send things to a server like checking spelling as you type, recommending extensions and features as you browse, turning off search suggestions, changing search engine, turning off location requests and most autofills, suggestions from web and sponsors, turning off all data collection and use, enabling https-only mode, etc
Some. But it loads all the bullshit Javascript and doesnt have Ublock preinstalled.
Also the security mode is set to "useless" by default. I only know one site, ojogos.com.br a stupid popup ad-to-play website that wont run on secure Firefox settings
The problem I see is that if they get too idealistic/absolutist, they will end up just like those examples you mentioned (Brave, TorBrowser, Librewolf); less successful.