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FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

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31–40 of 199 posts

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox can require more bandwidth for WebRTC calls I think, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1600698 I also have some memory of asking all participants in Jitsi meetings to not use firefox, because the call would start to lag for all participants if bandwidth was an issue for the firefox users in the call. Don't know if that is still the case or not though.

This should be fixed.

Sorry, your comment is ambiguous; "should be" as in "needs to be fixed" or as in "has been fixed"?

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#33
post #23
post #22

Keep giving money to a company that uses slave labour. What is the worst that can happen?

They do but who doesn't? Apple isn't different than any other tech companies. That said, yes, the global south produces for west in slave like conditions and it's sad.

It's a sad reality of society, but it doesn't have to be. I guess one of my biggest issues with modern day slavery is that the companies that exploit these poorer nations often paint a deceptive picture that everything is above board.

And whats worse is that these companies have the audacity to get behind social movements. Its predatory and just another scheme to improve their bottom line and lull their customers into believing that they are making an ethical choice by purchasing their products.

The raw reality is that everyone is getting exploited so we (the west) can enjoy using an iDevice while sitting on the toilet.

Its sickening.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#34
post #3

What are (if any) the technical blockers for Firefox to be considered on the same level of support?

At a guess, codecs seem the most likely explanation. Firefox has a h.264 decoder, but not an encoder I think.

That's why it downloads the openh264 encoder binary from Cisco

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#35
post #3

What are (if any) the technical blockers for Firefox to be considered on the same level of support?

You cannot achieve true E2E encryption on Firefox as it doesn't support insertable streams, so I guess this is where the limitation is. EDIT: bug on bugzilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1631263

E2E is on by default as in all P2P webrtc calls. What you can't do is use a SFU and still get E2E. Perhaps I'm just missing something but why would you want a SFU AND E2E? Why not just use TURN in those cases (if the problem the SFU is meant to fix is routing)?

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#36
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a guess, codecs seem the most likely explanation. Firefox has a h.264 decoder, but not an encoder I think.

Why can't firefox invoke the system dll or libraries for H.264 encode/decode? Like many video players do. Why must every browser ship its own codec or even Unicode collection is beyond me.

I'm pretty sure it does use system libraries for decode

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#37
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a guess, codecs seem the most likely explanation. Firefox has a h.264 decoder, but not an encoder I think.

Why can't firefox invoke the system dll or libraries for H.264 encode/decode? Like many video players do. Why must every browser ship its own codec or even Unicode collection is beyond me.

Firefox used to be able to do this, but they don't anymore for strategic or political reasons. They don't want website authors to depend on certain codecs that some users have on their PC but some others don't. I can understand the rationale, but think it is a bit sad.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairphone doesn't. Fairphone goes as far as giving percentage of phone sales to factory workers.

A percentage of phone sales always goes to factory workers in the form of wages...

Edit: No, workers get wages when they do their job regardless of phone sales. Fairphone gives factory workers a bonus from phone sales in addition to the usual wages.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#39
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't firefox invoke the system dll or libraries for H.264 encode/decode? Like many video players do. Why must every browser ship its own codec or even Unicode collection is beyond me.

Because of a long tradition of the system libraries being fucked. All this stuff started in the days of Windows XP, which shipped with such a meagre selection of codecs you couldn't even play DVDs. And the codecs you could download? Either they cost money (i.e. most users wouldn't have them), or they were dodging license costs by some questionable means, or they had bigger aspirations than just providing a mere codec…

VLC also has the advantage of being developed in France, where the legal system does not recognise software patents.

Re: FaceTime on the web requires Chrome or Edge, no mention of Firefox

#40
post #19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For H.264, it's a question of patents IIRC. Cisco granted a free of charge decoder, but not necessarily an encoder.

Hi ow can I pay to get the encoder into my FF? Like I paid to get some en/decoding in my raspberry pi’s.

I personally believe Raspberry Pi made the wrong decision in using non-free hardware which required non-free firmware to operate key features such as video encoding/decoding.

Why would we encourage Firefox or others to do the same and develop a business model based on patents? Especially so when these patents are owned by huge conglomerates of corporate psychopaths (hello MPEG-LA) and the software editor we're talking about (Mozilla) had to lay-off a lot of staff during the confinement by lack of funds.

To be fair, Firefox is more than capable to encode/decode into free codecs and there's no reason why a third party plugin couldn't support H264 encoding as well. It falls on Apple to support proper standards for their communications platform and not on Firefox to support every piece of proprietary tech they can come up with.

But well, we all know what Apple thinks of standards. With their AirPlay, iMessage, iCloud and other Apple-specific solutions. If only we had free-software, standards-compliant solutions to all these computing problems. /s

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