Firefox 94 inserting VPN ads into private browsing tabs - and marks this as WONTFIX in the bugreport.: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1739049 #linux #firefox #ads #vpn #privatetab #browser #wontfix #monetization
The guy posting the bug is absolutely disrespectful. People need to stop being entitled when it comes to other people FLOSS programs that they get for free.
From the bugzilla etiquette:
@dreeg The end user is always right. That's how you end up with fragments of % of market share. This kind of shit from Firefox will just make everyone move away from it. Note that this is a very long term user complaining: you don't want to lose them.
> The end user is always right.
NO
> That's how you end up with fragments of % of market share.
Obviously, Chrome got that much market share by being super respectful of their users, and not having advertisement. /s
@dreeg Chrome has been a superior product to Firefox (technically) for numerous years before Firefox decided to catch up. That's why they lost share. Now what remains is FOSS and Privacy caring folks and Mozilla is shooting ads at them, completely oblivious to who is currently still using Firefox.
@boilingsteam except this is just not true..
As long as Google has enough money to pay as many engineers as it wants, Firefox will always be playing catch up.
You think mozilla at some point in the past didn't care or something?
It is impossible to compete with someone in the web space who defines the actual specs that will end up in the browsers. HTTP3 and many others things are basically created at Google/Alphabet.
Firefox is just trying to survive at this point, finances do not look good
@falktx If you want to see what good decisions look like when building a browser, look no further than Brave: they are small but are building a following month after month instead of dropping like a rock.
@boilingsteam @falktx what if I want to see what good decisions look like when building a layout engine?
@boilingsteam Brave the closed-source browser that injects their own ads into the DOM? How is that a good decision at all? Anyone that just is a little privacy conscious would never use a closed-source application for such critical parts of their life.
@falktx I'm not talking about the FOSS aspects when it comes to Brave - I would not use it either. But at least they found a way to compete against bigger browsers and to grow, despite having way less resources than Firefox.
@boilingsteam Brave uses the chrome/ium engine, so they don't have to do 99% of the work that Firefox does. Of course they can manage with way less resources...
There are small open-source projects that are basically the same as Brave, in terms of just reskinning Chromium's engine. Even less work when using WebKit/WebEngine over gtk/qt as the packaging side is then already done.
@boilingsteam The execs (and business operation location, in London no less one of the most expensive places to be) is something I dislike.
The side-projects are exactly a means to survive.. why wouldn't it be so? You cannot make money creating an application that people expect for free, I started a discussion about this a few toots ago.
They need services on top of the browser to get a return on investment on their part. And no, donations are not going to be enough.
Seems like you hate Firefox
@falktx You can't survive with that kind of side projects. There needs to be big reckoning at Firefox that their budget is not sustainable without Sauron's money (Google) and they need to massively scale-down their operations and stop side-projects because they just cannot afford to waste any kind of time on making bullshit services without biz model (like Firefox Send).
I don't hate Firefox (been using it for 15 years), but that does not prevent me from finding Mozilla broken and inefficient.
@boilingsteam If they scale down their developers leave and the product dies.
@falktx So they hope Google will give them a blank check forever?
@boilingsteam Obviously not, again why do you think these side projects are a thing? It is exactly those that brings extra money on the side so they can keep being in business.
They already cut down on resources before (for example with MDN and servo) and are trying to find ways to be sustainable.
This is not controversial and does not need to be, just a side effect from the current state of affairs (both in tech/software and the world and economy). Dreams and wishes do not pay salaries
@falktx They don't even have a plan on how to survive, and instead they keep doing side-projects (nobody was waiting for them to do a VPN service, it's not like we lack choice) - and paying execs millions instead of cutting down the fat in the hierarchy. They are completely useless at this point.