Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
1–10 of 195 posts
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#2That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#3I know this is tangential-- I would like to write a FF extension -- can anyone point out some good resources for that? Beyond what's on Moz's official site of course.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#4That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
Google would benefit (maybe) only in the short term. If folks leave Chrome for browsers with adblock that would be a 1-2 punch.
They'd loose their influence on the browser world and loose the ad revenue as well.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#5That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
> Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
In the long run, this might sadly be true, but I disagree for now. No way Google is doing this because of the goodness of their hearts.
They do it because they haven't completely squeezed out all competitors yet.
Removing or utterly crippling addons now would force users to realize what Chrome is while there still are options, meaning a huge chunk of the users would go to other browsers.
Look to Chrome mobile, the one that they can force ram down the throat of > 50% of mobile users. Chrome mobile doesn't have addons because it doesn't compete.
Sorry to all Googlers here for being so blunt, and feel free to point out one or more examples from the last few years where Google has prioritized their users above quarterly / yearly profits.
I used to be a huge fan but Google has massively disappointed me over the last 5-10 years.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#6I know this is tangential-- I would like to write a FF extension -- can anyone point out some good resources for that? Beyond what's on Moz's official site of course.
I just started working on an extension recently with no experience and have found it to be pleasantly unchallenging. If you are familiar with web development already, it's actually a pretty easy transition. Primarily you have the option of injecting some JS into every page, and also running a page in the background. So you just need to design your extension to work that way. Then you have access to some extension-specific APIs for stuff like the little icon in the toolbar or reading cookies.
I think if you already know web dev, you probably don't need a specific resource to figure it out - just dive right into it and look up which parts of API you need for certain things.
If you don't already know web dev, perhaps it would be better to learn that first and then look at extensions.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#7Redesign reducing visibility of donation button, and no real support for selling / monetizing your extensions in the stores: totally agreed, they can and likely should do better there. I'd be curious to see if the change had any effect tho, and how much. Above-the-fold is valuable real-estate, it's possible that it's better-utilized after the change, just along a different set of priorities.
Direct payment from browser vendor to useful devs: not sure where that money would come from.
Alexa can probably support it since more use of an Alexa likely has a strong correlation with increased purchases through Amazon - they essentially directly profit off popular extensions, in a measurable way because they track everything, since it keeps people using Amazon in general.
I'm not sure Mozilla gets much money from e.g. adblock. Or other popular extensions. Plus they're a non-profit, so their cash-in-hand isn't too likely to change dramatically, unless we can convince more companies to donate (which could allow donating to extension devs).
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#8That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
Their core business is to have a useful/featureful browser. Browsers gain extra features thanks to extensions. One of the reasons that keeps me with Firefox are many of its extensions. They almost lost me as a user when they deprecated a gazilion tons of extensions last year. I would say extensions are an integral part of the browser offering even if produced by third-parties.
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#9That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
It's pretty clearly in line with Mozilla's goals for an Open Internet -- and from a pragmatic point-of-view a mass exodus of extension developers from Chrome would be big problem for Google.
I could see this as a way for Mozilla to further distinguish Firefox from Chrome. If Firefox was seen in the developer community as the platform to target if you want to make money, it won't take long for extension developers to start targeting Chrome only as an afterthought, and users would start to shift towards thinking of Firefox as "the one I can extend."
Re: Google and Mozilla are failing to support browser extension developers
#10That's not their core business. It's redolent of the complaints when Twitter etc limit their API/number of tokens per app etc. They're doing it because it no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps Mozilla is slightly different but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
> but Google would only benefit from ad/tracker blockers going away.
That's a gross mischaracterization of the situation. There are far, far more extensions than just ad blockers.
Google could trivially block ad blockers without killing all extensions, and ad blockers can survive just fine without extensions (pihole being the obvious example of one such alternative).
Google even has their own rather large suite of extensions: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/ext/15-by-google...
None of any of this has anything to do with ad blockers nor some hidden agenda to kill them. It's about how selling a hobby project can be disastrous for users, and what (if anything) Google/Mozilla should be doing to prevent those hobby developers from wanting to sell in the first place.
Personally I think that's treating the symptom and not the cause, and a better policy would be something like Google or Mozilla preventing updates to extensions whose backing developer has changed. Although that would be hard to enforce.