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Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#111

Post by tyingq »

weaksauce wrote: post #105
tyingq wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>XUL-based Firefox add-ons are not better. They essentially give full control of your computer to the developer of the add-on XUL does open up more attack surface than a web extension. However, web extensions open up enough that you're already in the business of trusting the creator of the extension. A web extension is fully capable of stealing my online banking credentials, for example.

Web extensions are vetted by amo reviewers if they come from that channel. Is it going to catch every single malicious extension? Doubtful. Is it better than nothing? Yes.

I suppose. The whole idea just seems to miss that for many, online data is more important than my local pc. A web extension that deleted my google account would be more disruptive than an XUL extension that formatted my hard drive. XUL is a superset, but restricting to "web only" leaves you with the most significant subset...at least for me.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#112

Post by angry-hacker »

exceptione wrote: post #12

Ouch, the comments over there are extremely negative. As mozilla is our last bastion of hope between advertising giants it pains me to see mozilla having an increasingly hard time to sustain a positive brand image. It is crazy if you think about it, because Mozilla is the last giant that respects its users. It has a very good proposition with regards to privacy and user-interest alignment. There are still tons of les…

Politics killed the company. They have lost the plot, the leadership is more interested in ideology than technology.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#113

Post by CaptSpify »

exceptione wrote: post #96
CaptSpify wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The strategy to mimick chrome makes sense, because the masses think this is how the browser -- or as they call it the "internet" -- should look like. But that's what FF has been doing for the past ~5 years, and how has their share been doing? Not so well. Chrome has much more marketing behind it. And it comes from a name that people know and trust. Most people don't know who Mozilla is. And most people don't care a…

Everything you said is true. However, > And most people don't care about avoiding Google. ...if that changes, everything changes. Thats the same thing with Signal and WhatsApp. I am positively surprised how easy it is to convert people to Signal and the momentum they are gaining. Maybe they are betting on the very long term? Tbh, I would expect a more focused marketing from Mozilla if that would be the case. I am alm…

> ...if that changes, everything changes.

That's a big "if". How likely is it to change? If history shows anything, not very. Don't get me wrong, I strongly hope they can knock Google off the top spot. But hope doesn't ship units.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#114

Post by pikzen »

frik wrote: post #90
masklinn wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They essentially give full control of your computer to the developer of the add-on. That's the entire point. Firebug could not have existed as a WebExtension, and thus without XUL addons the entire web development field could still be on Venkman or Script Editor rather than where it is now. The XUL extensions model allows extensions in ways unmatched by WE, and yes the development experience isn't tremendous and it…

Exactly. Now they killed Firebug. And their newer DevTool has a Firebug skin - just a skin. Very bad devision. So now I reverted back to an older Firebug version, which is actually the true Firebug addon. This means I will now have a zoo of old outdated browsers. Safari 5.1 Win32, Firefox 56 Win32 with Firebug addon, IE11 on Win7 (plus Chrome, Vivaldi and Servo alpha) I have hope in a lightweight reboot of Firefox ba…

The question "Why would you use Firebug considering both Firefox Dev Tools and Chome Dev Tools have more features and don't cause the entire browser to horribly lag?" remains.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#115

Post by CaptSpify »

kibwen wrote: post #93
dagenleg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I want the addons to have full control over my browser, that's the whole point! It's my browser and I've tailored it to myself and my requirements. The one thing that is striking every time I try to use chrome/chromium is just how limited the addon functionality is and how much less freedom the user has. Have you seen "treestyletabs" implementation on chrome? It's a whole other window that has to be started and p…

> But I want the addons to have full control over my browser, that's the whole point! It's my browser and I've tailored it to myself and my requirements. Owning the code that runs on your machine is your right as a user of open-source software, but there's no right that says that Mozilla must be the one to maintain that code. And nobody's asking you to maintain your own personal fork either: find all the other people…

> but there's no right that says that Mozilla must be the one to maintain that code.

And there's no right that says I have to use FF. They are giving up one of their big advantages.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#116

Post by CaptSpify »

shard972 wrote: post #65
dagenleg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I want the addons to have full control over my browser, that's the whole point! It's my browser and I've tailored it to myself and my requirements. The one thing that is striking every time I try to use chrome/chromium is just how limited the addon functionality is and how much less freedom the user has. Have you seen "treestyletabs" implementation on chrome? It's a whole other window that has to be started and p…

While i agree with the idea of being able to install whatever you want. What's wrong with it being behind a developer mode? I would bet that 99%~ people don't need or even want that kind of absolute freedom. As a chrome user, the only plugin I have that I can't get on the play store is one for downloading youtube videos but I can still install it from the author website, just takes a few extra clicks.

How easy is it to switch to Developer mode? Genuinely asking

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#118

Post by Amezarak »

detaro wrote: post #67
dagenleg wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I want the addons to have full control over my browser, that's the whole point! It's my browser and I've tailored it to myself and my requirements. The one thing that is striking every time I try to use chrome/chromium is just how limited the addon functionality is and how much less freedom the user has. Have you seen "treestyletabs" implementation on chrome? It's a whole other window that has to be started and p…

But Mozilla cares about average users, not about making something for power-users only. That seems to be the big conflict here: power users saying "you've lost the masses, so make something for us" while Mozilla's mission is making something that would be good for the masses, and they'd rather fail trying than failing that mission by abandoning it.

The only reason Firefox became popular in the first place is because it was adopted by power users, who then evangelized it to their less technical friends and family.

When Firefox is no longer an attractive option for power users, the only thing it will have going for it is ideology. And that will not be enough to compete.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#119

Post by hokkos »

keehun wrote: post #36
veeti wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/tab-center/

Tab Center has been my favorite tree-style tab add-on/plugin ever. None of the previous implementations come close to this for me.

But this is not a tree, only a list, there is no nesting, they should really do an expert mode of tab center.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#120

Post by mnordhoff »

mook wrote: post #83
shard972 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While i agree with the idea of being able to install whatever you want. What's wrong with it being behind a developer mode? I would bet that 99%~ people don't need or even want that kind of absolute freedom. As a chrome user, the only plugin I have that I can't get on the play store is one for downloading youtube videos but I can still install it from the author website, just takes a few extra clicks.

> What's wrong with it being behind a developer mode? The fact that one doesn't exist. "Developer edition" is really just their alpha build, they don't have release builds that allow unsigned extension installs.

There are some release builds that do.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Unbranded...

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