Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 242 posts

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#131

Post by dombili »

jagtesh wrote: post #112

I think we're just making a big deal out of this. As someone pointed out, they're likely using technologies not implemented in other browsers yet. Has the OP tried using play store on Aurora? In any case, I feel Google has the ethical and moral right to use whatever they see fit for their own web applications. And let this be said people, this isn't something new. Not even from Google. Inbox doesn't work on non-chrom…

>Even apple restricts using iCloud anything other than Safari.

Are you sure? I can login to iCloud just fine on Firefox (35.0.1) and Canary.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#132

Post by whizzkid »

This was an unexpected move from Google.

I am guessing they are trying to have singleton system around their app market but this is not how it is supposed to be done.

They can give users a unique email address with play store domain and ask them to sign in if they want to give a different user experience to Google users. And you need to have installed Google OS or Chrome in order to get that email address.

With this way, Google is no different than the 90s enterprise companies whose sites were only supporting IE in order to function.

This is not the first time Google is doing this, and I am guessing this will not be the last one either. Since they got Eric Schmidt on board, they are focusing more on revenue than being the Internet hero. I can not really blame them though..

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#133

Post by kenbellows »

Karunamon wrote: post #104
pyre wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are things it releases and publishes as open standards Publishing working code (even as Open Source) and possibly a white paper does not make something a 'standard.' It may be 'open' but not a 'standard.'

And yet it also completely disproves the argument of anyone claiming that Google is trying to make another ActiveX. The idea that nobody can do anything cool on the web unless all browsers support it seems like a great way to encourage stagnation.

There's a significant difference between implementing something in your browser, publishing the source, putting out demos, etc. and making it a critical part of a primary business web application to the extent that you explicitly wall-off browsers that don't support it.

You want to add new functionality to the web? Great, implement it, make some demos, show us why it's awesome and something we should all implement too. Advocate and demonstrate all you want. But don't make your applications break for anyone that doesn't support your new fanciness.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#134

Post by yincrash »

pjc50 wrote: post #120
jaredmcateer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the same thing that is being discussed here. What's being discussed is that you click, for example, a youtube link in your web browser and android opens up the youtube app to view the video. Android will give you the choice to open it up in a variety of supported applications, including the browser, you can set your permanent preference if you want to not be asked again.

How does one override this? It's especially annoying with e.g. youtube links in twitter - twitter hides it behind a URL shortener, takes me to the browser to load the URL, discovers it's youtube and tries to bounce me into the app. I'd much prefer to be left in the browser.

You can clear it in settings for the app that currently holds the default.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#135

Post by lmm »

anon1385 wrote: post #123
Karunamon wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it also completely disproves the argument of anyone claiming that Google is trying to make another ActiveX. The idea that nobody can do anything cool on the web unless all browsers support it seems like a great way to encourage stagnation.

>The idea that nobody can do anything cool on the web unless all browsers support it seems like a great way to encourage stagnation. But that's the entire point of open web standards. If you don't like using a runtime that is the lowest common denominator across all platforms then why are you using the web in the first place? I really don't understand people who claim to support the web and web standards but then moa…

Arguing definitions is a waste of time. How about this: I like published formats that become standards as and when they gain multiple implementations. If you try to standardize first and then implement, you get CSS2 (or, my first example, XHTML2). The web features we use are there because one vendor or another implemented them, experimentally (again I refer you to javascript, or the tag), and they became standards some time after that. For non-web examples consider something like python - at first, the implementation was the spec; as it matured and things like jython and pypy began to be important, the spec took on more of an independent existence.

This is the model that works, and google is trying to continue it. Best of luck to them.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#136

Post by JoeAltmaier »

kenbellows wrote: post #127
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't we all applauding some startup that had a douche-bagy "We dont support IE" message on their site and everyone here was so excited about it. Now that the bell is tolling for Firefox, its a different story, eh? There's been this largely ridiculous "revenge of the geeks" after the IE6 days. Now we've fed so much fuel into that fire, that casually telling people to use different browsers is the norm. I'm not sayi…

There is potentially a critical difference here. The "We don't support IE" mini-movement was a reaction to Microsoft's refusal to use the web standards that every other major browser supported. In this case, it appears to me (admittedly without research) that Google's motivations must be different, and two possibilities spring to mind: (1) Google doesn't like the competition from Firefox or (2) the Play store uses no…

'every other' turned into one or two. But anyway.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#137

Post by drzaiusapelord »

kenbellows wrote: post #127
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't we all applauding some startup that had a douche-bagy "We dont support IE" message on their site and everyone here was so excited about it. Now that the bell is tolling for Firefox, its a different story, eh? There's been this largely ridiculous "revenge of the geeks" after the IE6 days. Now we've fed so much fuel into that fire, that casually telling people to use different browsers is the norm. I'm not sayi…

There is potentially a critical difference here. The "We don't support IE" mini-movement was a reaction to Microsoft's refusal to use the web standards that every other major browser supported. In this case, it appears to me (admittedly without research) that Google's motivations must be different, and two possibilities spring to mind: (1) Google doesn't like the competition from Firefox or (2) the Play store uses no…

Not really. Since IE10 a lot of the standards argument has been bunk and I've run into a lot of sites lately that tell me, "Oh this html5 feature is only on Chrome, so use that" when I use Firefox. Or if I'm using IE11 for work, suddenly I hit a site that either tells me to get lost or warns me that I'll get a better experience with Chrome.

The problem is we let web culture degenerate into a "my browser or the highway" attitude thanks to the fuel uber-geeks poured on the IE6 fire. Now we're constantly reaping this negativity. I won't even go into the issues I've had with Opera, AOSP browser, dolphin, midori, and others. This "my browser or the highway" attitude is still very strong and we need to stop pretending its a legitimate way to manage the web. No wonder people are clamoring for walled-garden app stores and dumbed down apps. Maybe they're sick of the geek-led browser wars that flare up every so often. Google knows this and is using this to its advantage with its long-range plan to lock people onto its proprietary Android-based services. Now here's another reason to not use Firefox and to stick with Chrome.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#139

Post by acdha »

lmm wrote: post #94
william20111 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

follow standards maybe?

That approach is what got us XHTML 2.0 and a "lost decade" for web technology. The things Google adopts (vp8, dart, spdy) are things it releases and publishes as open standards, and therefore significantly more standard and open than e.g. javascript, or even the tag, were when first introduced.

Lack of competition for Internet Explorer got us the lost decade – Microsoft was perfectly happy with the web not being competitive with unportable desktop apps.

Re: Google Play Store: Browsing with Firefox is no longer supported on Android

#140

Post by TheRealDunkirk »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #115
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't we all applauding some startup that had a douche-bagy "We dont support IE" message on their site and everyone here was so excited about it. Now that the bell is tolling for Firefox, its a different story, eh? There's been this largely ridiculous "revenge of the geeks" after the IE6 days. Now we've fed so much fuel into that fire, that casually telling people to use different browsers is the norm. I'm not sayi…

Yup. Holding a ten-year grudge against Microsoft is going to bite people in the end.

I'm still nursing a 20-year grudge against them, yet find myself gainfully employed doing .NET application development again. There's being observantly pessimistic, and there's tilting at windmills.
Post reply on HN