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Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

blog.mozilla.org

31–40 of 321 posts

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#31
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Mozilla deceived us by indicating they had privacy improvements for us! This particular incident is a minor annoyance, but it's an indicator of how those in charge view those of us who care about actual privacy and functionality.

Mozilla really can't win on HN, a feature that basically only exists to save one click (efficiency!) for the kind of people who consume PB regularly is very power user and aligns with their brand as being privacy focused when private mode is the thing that is always visible in the bar. Nobody on HN seems to know at all how to market tech to a general audience and play the game of "staying relevant" so they always hav…

I, and probably many others, feel that the quality of this as an HN submission is related, but not synonymous with, the quality of it as a Mozilla communication. But it was submitted to HN, and so it will be judged as an HN submission.

But many of us also believe that, though it's POSSIBLE Mozilla is acting how you describe ("We are committed to privacy at our core but we have to publish this kind of press release to survive!"), they are actually corrupt at their core to the point where they only see privacy-conscious users as customercattle to be milked.

I believe we critics have good enough intuition to see this kind of behavior from Mozilla as a canary indicating their true nature. This is kind of an aftershock of the Mr. Robot incident. I think it's unlikely that that kind of bad judgment was not chronic and systemic.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#33
post #9

> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…

I remember being able to add a background to Firefox' UI a decade ago. Maybe they've removed it and are now celebrating it as a new feature despite it actually being a casualty of the browser's never-ending devolution.

[deleted]

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#34
post #13

Everyone in this thread complaining about colorways has got to be a meta-commentary on bikeshedding. This feature isn't for you. But anyway, I'm sad that HTTPS default and isolated cookies are turned on only for Private Browsing (sorry, "Guest Session" from that other silly HN thread, "private" apparently implies you have a rank in the military while using) when both these features aren't super disruptive for general…

I think you should re-read the complaints with slightly more empathy for both sides. I love my purple Firefox (apparently via Colorways). Meanwhile, the "Colorways" feature UX and messaging is stupid and confusing. I'm not exaggerating, me and others are quite confused about what it is/isn't and if it's going away. All for freaking what?

My mom sees that shit? She's gonna go "uh I don't know what Colorways is, why's it gonna go away, I'll just stick with Edge where it showed me 12 colored icons under the Theme heading and I just clicked one." Because that's exactly what I did until the slight annoyed-curiosity-purple-enthusiast got the better of me.

I feel like the scene in Zoolander when the character is befuddled and exasperatedly asks "am I taking crazy pills".

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#35
post #9

> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…

Firefox used to be so extensible that what is developer tools in every browser today started in Firefox as an extension, Firebug (yes, I am aware it is slightly more nuanced, but it is close enough for this argument.)

Also for a long while one of my preferred FTP programs was just a Firefox extension.

Yes, I think Google must be punished harsher for Chrome than Microsoft was for IE, but Mozilla couldn't have done much more to eradicate their market share without losing plausible deniability ;-)

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#36
post #13

Everyone in this thread complaining about colorways has got to be a meta-commentary on bikeshedding. This feature isn't for you. But anyway, I'm sad that HTTPS default and isolated cookies are turned on only for Private Browsing (sorry, "Guest Session" from that other silly HN thread, "private" apparently implies you have a rank in the military while using) when both these features aren't super disruptive for general…

> "private" apparently implies you have a rank in the military

Are you thinking of the "Private Browsing reporting for duty" clip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VEftRH12Y&t=42

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#37
post #9

> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…

God what a non-issue.

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#38
post #15

Shouldn't a post about a new release mention the version number? (It's 106) I really like Firefox from a usability and features point of view. Multi-account containers are fantastic! I want it to succeed. But a private browsing shortcut and colors don't excite me. I'd love to see improvements in speed and efficiency because FF is still behind the others for me. FF is also the only browser that frequently crashes. Sub…

Nah. After all, we're in the world of evergreen software now, so there are no release numbers, only happy little surprises when some new feature suddenly pops up on your screen...

/s

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#39
post #25
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qutebrowser is best, I pay for it voluntarily though it's free. But Firefox is mostly independent eh? Did they stop taking google money yet?

Qutebrowser isnt independent if you care that google money is involved, it uses blink. Firefox is the only even vaguely independent browser engine that keeps up at all with google.

Librewolf is a running fork of the newest Firefox with some small improvements. Unlike other forks it always has latest security updates.

I use it these days and I am considering to start chipping in too (I am at my limits currently so I will have to stop something else though).

But I really really want something like my old Firefox back...!

Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade

#40
post #9

> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…

Does it still have the cursed text with it that says "going away in (some month soon)". It's so stupid and confusing and baffling that I want to rage quit Firefox with this as the absolute last straw. Like wtf, you're gonna take back my color in a few months? Just pull the upsell for it? Why the hell am I having to wonder about any of this? Why on God's green earth was this done instead of spending any effort getting…

>Why on God's green earth was this done instead of

You are not alone. I'm starting to think something is wrong with me because I don't give an iota of a damn about any of this. I have watched people just get sucked into the rabbit hole of browsing for themes for the their browser while accomplishing exactly nothing after being overwhelmed and paralyzed by the choices. (Kinda like trying to find something to watch on streaming platforms)

Me, I have the default desktops from the OS, mobile OS, etc. I have too many windows covering my desktop to even care what it looks like. Yes, that's me, and I'm not even close to being everyone else. If this is the thing that convinces people to stop using Chrome, then fine. Spend time making the UI customizable to the point it looks like a MySpace background because that's what 99.9999% of people not me want. I'll do me, you do you.

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