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Firefox removed Yandex search option

bugzilla.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#311

Post by 0xy »

mmastrac wrote: post #282

I am consistently disappointed by any thread involving Mozilla on Hacker News. Somehow Mozilla is held to an impossible standard. For the one company out there holding the internet away from a WebKit monoculture, they sure get the short end of the stick by people here.

The CEO raised her own wage repeatedly while the Firefox market share tanked, during which she directed spending to useless projects that were all eventually shelved and proceeded to plaster Firefox in ads (full page after update) when it became obvious her strategy was an abject failure.

Firefox development itself has been rudderless and lethargic for a long time. WebKit introduced backdrop filters 7 years ago and Firefox is still working on implementing them. [1]

I don't think that's a particularly high standard. The CEO is a failure and the board is incompetent for not firing her years ago.

[1] https://webkit.org/blog/3632/introducing-backdrop-filters/

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#312

Post by oefrha »

powersnail wrote: post #294
oefrha wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people want to see them spend their efforts on holding the Internet back from a WebKit monoculture, and donate to that cause, but they keep wasting resources on political activism, pointless bs like time-limited themes, etc. while downsizing their engineering team. Not doing those isn’t “impossible”, in fact they go out of their way to disappoint people with those distractions.

I don't think Firefox actually takes donation anyway. It's specifically put under Mozilla Corporation so it can generate profit.

Yes, I’m aware of that. People would like to donate specifically to Firefox development though, and some donate to Mozilla Foundation under the impression that it would help. I’ve certainly done that in the past.

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#313

Post by shyiko »

sjmm1989 wrote: post #251

It's a shame that Yandex is getting this treatment... It's translation service is by my opinion far better, since I have been able to use it very effectively to converse with anyone around the world in their native tongue. Google... ... I learned the hard way that google is not that great at translating. It seems good, to those who haven't found out why it's bad. P.S. I can basically copy and paste a yandex translati…

Yandex has been promoting Russian propaganda/censoring Navalny/etc. for years and you complain about inconvenience of using a different translation service?

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#314

Post by dotcoma »

Crash0v3rid3 wrote: post #126
dotcoma wrote: post #32

I wish they removed Google...

Can you explain why you feel that way?

For some searches, half the ‘results’ I get are ads. Not to mention how they track people. I’m still using Gmail as a throwaway email address, but for everything else, I’m done with Google.

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#315

Post by OrvalWintermute »

tananaev wrote: post #290
staticassertion wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that results from Yandex were spreading propaganda from Russia, backing up the false narrative that they hadn't done anything, or that everyone in Ukraine is a nazi, etc. Would love to hear more if anyone has information, I'm possibly misremembering. Also, private companies are an important part of a nation's economy. Restricting them surely impacts that nation, so the idea seems sound?

Yandex News are definitely in line with Russian government propaganda. It's a news aggregator, so it might look like propaganda because all popular news outlets are propaganda. Not sure if they filter anything themselves. But I think it still makes sense to put a pressure on the company anyway.

> ...Russian government propaganda. It's a news aggregator, so it might look like propaganda because all popular news outlets are propaganda. Not sure if they filter anything themselves. But I think it still makes sense to put a pressure on the company anyway.

As opposed to what Western News Media coverage on the war has turned into, aka, more Propaganda?

The middle ground is not promoting our own Propaganda instead, which is what pushing everyone to Western Search Engines (Agitprop search really).

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#316

Post by userbinator »

I wonder if the decision was due to legal issues, or perhaps pressure from sponsors. After all, they just very recently decided to spam everyone with a very clearly sponsored advert: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30665493

I bet this is another move that won't gain them any marketshare either.

It's sad that "at least we're better than Chrome" seems to have become the only real redeeming praise of Firefox/Mozilla, and I think that's exactly what the management at Mozilla and Google realises --- both browsers are heading in the same hostile direction, but as long as FF stays a little behind Chrome, Google can say it's not a monopoly. At this point "browser choice" is clearly more of an illusion than reality. They're all slowly shoving everyone down the same funnel.

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#317

Post by sjmm1989 »

shyiko wrote: post #313
sjmm1989 wrote: post #251

It's a shame that Yandex is getting this treatment... It's translation service is by my opinion far better, since I have been able to use it very effectively to converse with anyone around the world in their native tongue. Google... ... I learned the hard way that google is not that great at translating. It seems good, to those who haven't found out why it's bad. P.S. I can basically copy and paste a yandex translati…

Yandex has been promoting Russian propaganda/censoring Navalny/etc. for years and you complain about inconvenience of using a different translation service?

Annndddd our own media conglomerates will shill propaganda and censor people who they disagree with all the time as well. Not saying that this exonerates Russia or Yandex, but if you think we shouldn't be able to use Yandex's translation service because of the other things it has done; then you best get ready to stop using google, facebook, reddit and twitter too; along with all the services attached to them. They all have been just as bad in their own ways.

Look. I just said it was a shame that this all means that we won't be able to use a superior auto-translation product. How is that a problem. It just means someone who can do better than Google would be wise to step up, because someone like me is saying there is a market for a better product than what Google is offering.

That's the thing about sanctions and such. When you take away some things, you gotta try to replace them somehow with something as good or better. And all I am saying is Google ain't it.

Edit: https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/14/dpc-sued-google-rtb-compla...

Here, look. Now yes, that is about the watchdog being sued over not doing their job correctly; but look at who the culprit is and what they were doing. Google. Being naughty, once again.

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#318

Post by tuyguntn »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #255

It's worth remembering any discussion you see about Russian tech topics right now is almost certainly influenced by paid Russian propaganda agents. Here's two news articles that may provide more carefully edited context. https://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-98-0-1-has-one-big-cha... https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/russia-ukraine-cris...

tell me why we should not think you are an American propaganda created by weapon lobby who wants war to last longer and supply NATO with everything they need and make huge profits?

I know Russia started war, but it is very difficult to make conclusions at this point, everyone will tell other side "propaganda", "brainwashed"

Re: Firefox removed Yandex search option

#319

Post by queuebert »

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #171
stu2b50 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes. It’s almost all of their annual revenue and Mozilla already had huge layoffs[0], so presumably they’re not exactly on amazing footing financially. Duckduckgo could not provide anything near that much - ddg has 100m in annual revenue and Google is giving 500m to Mozilla. 5x their entire company’s annual revenue. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/11/21363424/mozilla-layoffs-...

If an organisation can be in financial trouble with an annual income of half a billion then it's poorly run. That's ample resources even for something as complex as a browser.

You could do a lot of science for $500M. I wonder where all that money goes for a mostly complete piece of software.
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