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Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

forbes.com

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Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#3
That's a bit hyperbolic though. I imagine a high percentage of HN users block ads, but the overall rate is more like 25%[1] I suppose Forbes' editors weren't so excited about "Google gives about 500M Chrome users a reason to switch..."

1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/804008/ad-blocking-reach...

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#4

Before I opened this, I really couldn't think of ANYTHING that would be big enough for me to care enough about to switch. But disabling ad block? That's insane. If that really comes to fruition, there is no way I'm sticking around.

After all the outrage I am sure they won't follow through.

Or so I hope...

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#9
> Google is planning to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users only

> the software giant is not backing down: It says the only people that can use ad blockers following the change will be Google’s enterprise users.

> Google sent me a statement by email, which reads: "Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers. We’re actively working with the developer community to get feedback and iterate on the design of a privacy-preserving content filtering system that limits the amount of sensitive browser data shared with third parties."

These can't all be true. Which is it?

The last one sounds weasel-wordy to me: it might be saying that they want to allow people to block targeted ads and see random ones instead, which is obviously not ad-blocking and would make "Chrome supports the use and development of ad blockers" a bald-faced lie.

Re: Google Just Gave 2B Chrome Users a Reason to Switch to Firefox

#10
post #5

Do 2B users use uBO, or do most of them use ABP or uBlock? Because I don't see much pushback from the authors of the later, and it anything they have a vested interest in design choices that negate the power of their greatest competitor.

2B is probably the total number of Chrome users. I'd be curious how many Ublock Origin users there are though. The # of installs counter on the Chrome extension store maxes out at "10,000,000+".
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