Firefox Sync actually works • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#231

Post by downWidOutaFite » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:28 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #220

beretguy wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most important is that Firefox is the only barrier that protects us from Google locking up internet behind a DRM.

Firefox has compromised on DRM before and there's no reason to expect they won't cave again next time.

They caved because they were afraid that without Netflix they would lose market share but then they lost market share anyways. In the alternate universe where they didn't cave users mounted a pressure campaign against Netflix for blocking Firefox and that got the FTC's attention and Netflix was the one that caved .

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#232

Post by toyg » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:28 PM UTC

KANahas wrote: post #80

robinhood wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the exact opposite experience. I've been using FF for a very, very long time, and I have yet to encounter a site that doesn't work on it. Also, what modern web APIs Firefox doesn't support?

The only roadblock I’ve found has been the webserial API, which enables users to flash ESP32/8266 or other devices from webpages. It’s super handy for flashing WLED or ESPHome to devices because you don’t have to install any extra software. As far as I know, it has been marked as a “wontfix” in the Firefox bugtracker as they consider it a harmful feature [0] [0]: https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/…

I mean, I understand the attractiveness, but it's a super-niche feature that wouldn't really move the needle.

The real problem, imho, is the constant glitching on Google properties like Gmail and YouTube. Even if they were really "accidental" (big if), they impact massive amounts of users in their everyday lives, and it takes very little to lose a user forever.

Maybe FF should launch a GMail competitor, and/or promote alternatives to any Google property.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#233

Post by leetcrew » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:29 PM UTC

PontifexMinimus wrote: post #78

My favourite feature of Firefox is multi-account containers -- great if you have multiple online identities.

this is absolutely a killer feature if you follow the one account per stage per region guidance with AWS accounts (which you really should).

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#234

Post by wharvle » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

thecopy wrote: post #44

I love Firefox. It is a mystery to me why it is not more popular.

I used it from when it was Phoenix until 2011 or so.

I left because it was a lot worse than my main two other options on MacOS at the time, and they’d not followed through on the things that made me like it when I adopted it, so I hadn’t really loved it since late 1.x or early 2.x.

I haven’t gone back because there’s no compelling reason to switch back from Safari.

It is still my mod-downloading browser on my Windows gaming PC.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#235

Post by roshansingh » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

It's Firefox containers for me. It is extremely useful to manage different environments - dev, production etc., and I can use the colors to identify the tabs.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#236

Post by athreyac8 » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

ishanjain28 wrote: post #127

herdcall wrote: post #8

Yes, it just works; but a few days back all my devices suddenly lost almost all of the passwords. Not all but most of them, couldn't make out any pattern or reason. Luckily a Linux laptop that I don't usually use had the full set and I had to export them, sync, and import them back to restore everywhere. Very scary, any ideas why this could've happened? I immediately backed up for the future, but this kind of loss sh…

is it a good idea to use password managers built into web browsers? (vs using a password manager from some third party? bw/1p)

I use BitWarden pretty good

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#237

Post by marcosdumay » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:35 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #193

marcosdumay wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why does it try to sync things without my permission? It doesn't. (The interface for enabling it is even a little anxiety-causing.) It doesn't add extra icons anywhere either. You have some additional software doing that. Do you use a fork from the Mozilla code?

Nope, whatever they had me download. It's Macs so maybe they autoattached to handover or whatever Apple calls that feature. Which I like, but only for texts and phone calls. The devices I mention are all in the same local network so maybe they discover each other. Anyway, there's a post in this thread that explains perfectly why I (or that poster) don't need or want sync. Basically my different machines are used for…

Oh, Firefox on the Mac is a wild and badly understood beast. It's worse on iOS.

I have no idea what you are supposed to expect there.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#238

Post by jraph » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:38 PM UTC

lupusreal wrote: post #226

GeekyBear wrote: post #93

One of the headline features for me is the Firefox recommended extensions program, where the extension code (and updated code) is manually vetted for malware and privacy violations. > Recommended extensions are expected to: Function extremely well. All Recommended extensions should not only perform as they promise, but do so at an exceptional level. For instance, there may be many ad blockers out there, but not all a…

I wish they'd only permit manually vetted FOSS extensions, separating developers (who might secretly sell out) from the ability to push updates directly to users. I want something like F-Droid or Debian but for browser extensions. In fact it's really disappointing that Mozilla goes out of their way to make it difficult for another organization to do this for Firefox. If you want to install extensions from a source ot…

Some Firefox extensions are provided in the Debian repositories, maybe that's a start? I haven't tried much to use them, but maybe I should (though I'm not using Debian on the desktop right now).

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#239

Post by javier_e06 » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:39 PM UTC

Firefox falls flat on its foxy face when it comes to chromebook tablet support. I am so ready to ween myself from Chrome but when I open my chromebook, they pull me back in. Arrrgh.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#240

Post by mort96 » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 5:42 PM UTC

This article is terrible, there's an animated ad between almost every paragraph and a floating animated banner ad and a floating auto-playing video ad. Completely unreadable.