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  1. endler.devMatthias Endler7 min
    11 reads6 comments
    8.8
    endler.dev
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    • coriander
      Top reader this weekScout
      3 months ago

      “Because everyone and their car stopped testing their stuff anywhere else.”

      Really sad about this laziness around testing. I generally love using Firefox and have been happily off chrome for years but it can be hard to convince people to try it when their chrome experience is so smooth and so easily integrates with the google account that runs every aspect of many of our lives :)

      One other pattern I’ve encountered is people trying out Firefox, happily enabling the more strict privacy respecting tracker blocking settings, and then being very frustrated when most websites that rely on heavy trackers are unusable. They think Firefox is the broken part perhaps not realizing it’s due to the overuse of trackers on websites they frequent and the strict privacy setting. And then they give up on Firefox and move back to chrome 😂

      • thorgalle
        Top reader this weekReading streakScout
        3 months ago

        You convinced to switch the setting to "strict"! Probably, overall, it will make the web less annoying and creepy (since more popups/trackers/consent managers will get auto-blocked), and I'm definitely the kind of person who will try disabling an ad blocker when something doesn't work 😄

      • Joannerice3 months ago

        Good to know. I will make the switch from Safari

    • thorgalle
      Top reader this weekReading streakScout
      3 months ago

      Guilty as charged! I've been rolling Google Chrome for the past few years, and didn't give Quantum a second look. I've been bolstered in this position by various annoyances as a web developer where Firefox had a bug, or required a workaround. Of course, as the article says, that sometimes depends on the point of view.

      Most recently, users of Firefox for Android couldn't sign in to our website welcometomygarden.org anymore, because Firefox' Enhanced Tracking Protection blocked the Google Recaptcha 3 requests that verify whether visits are from legitimate clients. This probably is a form of Google tracking, but it's also required for our site to function. We didn't have it enabled before, and only included it because we noticed someone had built an unapproved front-end to our backend, essentially stealing our data.

      The risk of stolen data versus perfect compatibility with Firefox for Android (used by 2% of our visitors) was clear to us. For now, we ask these users to switch off tracking protection on our site. Sometimes, despite best intentions, your hands are tied.

      Oh, and did you know that Google paid Apple 20 billion dollars in 2022 to be the default search engine on Safari?

      That's a crazy number. But Safari is also bringing a lot of traffic and revenue to Google. This payment represented 20/394.328 = 5% of Apple's revenue in 2022.

      Mentioning that, we should also mention that Google pays Mozilla too to keep Google as the default search engine:

      Those payments, which started in 2005, have been increasing—up 50% over the past decade, to more than $450 million, even as the total number of Firefox users has plummeted. In 2021 these payments accounted for 83% of Mozilla’s revenue.

      The mind-boggling part here is 83%. Google is basically keeping Mozilla afloat! This is a pretty transparent smoke screen to prevent regulatory pressure towards Google's near-monopolistic control over the web, through delivering the most-used engine and browser. Google is already facing regulatory pressure on its search engine dominance and ad empire from both the US government and the EU. This feels like a perverse incentive that enables Firefox to exist, not at all aligned with the open web and privacy, which what most Firefox proponents care about.

      Regardless, it shouldn't be an excuse to keep strengthening Google's hand directly and personally. I've been hanging out on Mastodon a lot recently, and the prevailing opinion there is that people should use Firefox to save the open web. It's probably the lesser evil. Maybe today is a good day to try switching, and also to Vivaldi if I happen to need an environment for Blink/Chromium, still.

      I this respect, I also think it's a little unfortunate that the same Mastodon/fediverse community went berzerk against Ladybird, a budding independent browser that also avowed to not get into search engine deals. With other words, a real potential ally for the open web, just like Servo. The main reason for this backlash was one instance of documented, anti-inclusive, gender-regressive behavior from the project's founder some years ago that he wasn't apologetic towards. A non-negotiable for many Firefox proponents, it seems. I personally still want to give the project and its leader the benefit of the doubt. As this article brings across, there is much at stake.

      1. Update (8/24/2024):

        Lately, the uBlock Origin team just threw in the towel and stopped supporting Chrome.

        Btw, I didn't know this, and this is actually a huge motivator for me to switch to FF right now.

      • Joannerice3 months ago

        I’m 66 yrs old and basically could care less where or how- just want it to work fast Thanks for posting this article. It has definitely awakened me to make a switch

        • thorgalle
          Top reader this weekReading streakScout
          3 months ago

          I'm glad to hear! So far, I haven't had a complaint about the speed :)