cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26244492
The answer to “what is Firefox?” on Mozilla’s FAQ page about its browser used to read:
The Firefox Browser is the only major browser backed by a not-for-profit that doesn’t sell your personal data to advertisers while helping you protect your personal information.
Now it just says:
The Firefox Browser, the only major browser backed by a not-for-profit, helps you protect your personal information.
In other words, Mozilla is no longer willing to commit to not selling your personal data to advertisers.
A related change was also highlighted by mozilla.org commenter jkaelin, who linked direct to the source code for that FAQ page. To answer the question, “is Firefox free?” Moz used to say:
Yep! The Firefox Browser is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it, and we don’t sell your personal data.
Now it simply reads:
Yep! The Firefox Browser is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it.
Again, a pledge to not sell people’s data has disappeared. Varma insisted this is the result of the fluid definition of “sell” in the context of data sharing and privacy.
Mozilla have been slowly but steadily turning to shit for years now. Long ago already, they became the kind of company that lays off workers in order to pay the CEO an unreasonable amount.
I think that the moment people should’ve seen as a turning point where Mozilla stopped giving a shit about the users was when they did all of those unpopular UI changes a while back (like removing compact mode). They used telemetry to justify these changes, while I’m sure they must’ve been aware that their “privacy focused browser” schtick probably attracts a lot of people who switch telemetry off. And even if they were that stupid, the over all reaction online to the changes should’ve been enough of a clue for them. But they still did it anyway.
UI changes might be small in the greater scheme of things but the UI is also what 90% of users base their experience on. So it just means that they do not give a flying fuck about the user base. And they’re going to be slowly but surely enshitifying the browser whether anyone likes it or not.
I hope, in the end, Firefox and Thunderbird survive…
If Firefox is gone, the clones/forks will probably die as well. And the complexity of a web browser makes it hard to just give the project to some new people…
I’m holding out hope that Ladybird works out
Here’s where they quietly removed the promise from their FAQ:
Very, very long-time Firefox user here, now open to suggestions for a replacement. Windows, desktop, and it absolutely must have adblocker capabilities.
I have used Firefox for literally its entire existence – it was still called “Phoenix” when I started using it! – and even I am on the brink of switching. That’s how abjectly fucked up Mozilla has gotten.
Hello, old timer! Pretty sure it was just plain Netscape when I installed it (not yet called Navigator), but I’d never heard of it as Phoenix. It has served me well for 30 years across a dozen computers, but now it might be time to move on.
Netscape Navigator was different software. It became the browser component of Netscape Communicator, then Mozilla Application Suite, then Mozilla Seamonkey, and has now been spun off from Mozilla and is just called Seamonkey.
Mozilla Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox was a from-scratch rewrite to make a minimalist standalone browser without the bloat of Mozilla Application Suite, where nonessential features could be added as extensions. (That’s why it was initially named “Phoenix”: because it was rising from the ashes of Navigator.)
(For the record, I am not so old as to have used Netscape 1.0.)
(: Man, the things I learn from smart folks on Lemmy…
Anything for iOS? Or do I need to go back to Graphene?
Everything on iOS will be based on WebKit. Apple doesn’t allow third-party browser engines on iOS. Even the official Google Chrome app is running WebKit under the hood instead of Chromium.
That’s why browser extensions never get supported on iOS; They’re literally made for the wrong browser engine. If you want extensions, you’re forced to use the default Safari app, because that’s the only browser that natively supports extension apps.
This isn’t true anymore, as vendors have the ability to provide other engines within the EU.
I’m using Orion. It stores nothing. It’s WebKit based, I think.
Everything on iOS is WebKit based. Apple doesn’t allow third-party browser engines on iOS. Even the official Chrome and Firefox apps are just reskins of the WebKit engine that iOS’ default Safari uses.
It’s why things like Firefox extensions never got ported to iOS; They’re made for Gecko, not WebKit. If you want extensions, you have to use the default Safari browser.
Not in the EU, at least. Time will tell if any major vendor bothers to provide a custom engine (read: their own). But important to note that this isn’t the limitation it was.
Nothing that I know of, sorry. I have never used iOS before and don’t know anyone who has.
That does look intriguing, especially if being a Firefox fork means I can bring my familiar add-ons along. Thank you!
Just be aware that there is a slight chance of sites not working as expecped due to all of the privacy tweaks. It’s mostly fine though.
Good luck!
This is why it’s hard getting people to like you, Firefox. Please don’t give more reasons for them to stay on Chrome.
It’s not hard to define “sell,” Varma, and I’m sure you don’t want to do it, because the definitions aren’t flattering. Here’s the Miriam Webster definition:
1: to deliver or give up in violation of duty, trust, or loyalty and especially for personal gain : betray —often used with out
sell out their country
2a(1): to give up (property) to another for something of value (such as money)
2a(2): to offer for sale
2b: to give up in return for something else especially foolishly or dishonorably
sold his birthright for a mess of pottage
2c: to exact a price for
sold their lives dearly
3a: to deliver into slavery for money
3b: to give into the power of another
sold his soul to the devil
3c: to deliver the personal services of for money
4: to dispose of or manage for profit instead of in accordance with conscience, justice, or duty
sold their votes
