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Firefox search update

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox search update

#121

Post by sunaookami »

stronglikedan wrote: post #26
atomicfiredoll wrote: post #7

Just a shortcut for anybody trying to find it. "Remember, you can always opt out of sending any technical or usage data to Firefox. Here’s a step-by-step guide [0] on how to adjust your settings." --- 1. Click the [hamburger menu button] and select Settings. 2. Select the Privacy & Security panel. 3. Scroll down to the Firefox Data Collection and Use section. 4. Check or uncheck the box next to Allow Firefox to send…

I wonder if you'll have to remember to do this after each update, like you have to do for most of Chrome's unwanted and unwelcomed features.

They already did this way back with their other telemetry stuff. You had to disable it through about:config and then Mozilla introduced new flags/renamed them and even added a flag if you have disabled telemetry that you had to disable again manually.

Re: Firefox search update

#122

Post by pquki4 »

romanows wrote: post #11

Seems like this is in support of "Firefox Suggest", which seems to show sponsored links. I really don't like advertising so I really don't like going down that road. Can't they just take Google's yearly $600,000,000 payment and build the best browser "for the user" while also addressing technical debt and organizational issues so it can continue as an open source project if/when the money ever dries up?

> Can't they just take Google's yearly $600,000,000 payment

They can do that for as long as Google is willing to pay. Without additional revenue stream, the day Google decides to cut cost and stop sponsoring Mozilla, that's the day Firefox will run into big trouble. Any additional revenue stream is going to help.

I am no CEO but that seems very clear to me.

Re: Firefox search update

#123

Post by autoexec »

mrob wrote: post #78

I don't even want my browser to support searching from the browser UI. If I want to send information to Google I'll visit their web page directly. I don't want to do it by a misclick. It's surprisingly difficult to disable searching from the browser UI in Firefox. Firefox insists you have at least one search engine enabled at all times. The best option I know of is to set the undocumented setting "browser.urlbar.upda…

There are a bunch of about:config changes you can make to prevent searching from the address bar. I follow that up by going through and just deleting nearly every string with a URL in it.

Re: Firefox search update

#124

Post by LikesPwsh »

bdzr wrote: post #53
lordofgibbons wrote: post #13

> We’re ramping up our efforts to enhance search experience by developing new features like Firefox Suggest, which provides recommended online content that corresponds to queries. So, they need to collect data about my search habits so they can show me relevant ads in Firefox Suggest? At this point why do I even bother using Firefox? I seriously might as well just use Chromium.

Remember when Firefox was the new hotness because it blocked ads?

Firefox mobile is still the hotness for that same reason.

Re: Firefox search update

#125

Post by sunaookami »

romanows wrote: post #11

Seems like this is in support of "Firefox Suggest", which seems to show sponsored links. I really don't like advertising so I really don't like going down that road. Can't they just take Google's yearly $600,000,000 payment and build the best browser "for the user" while also addressing technical debt and organizational issues so it can continue as an open source project if/when the money ever dries up?

Sadly Firefox already shows sponsored spammy & clickbaity "articles" on the default new tab page which always makes me cringe whenever I see it on other pcs.

Re: Firefox search update

#126

Post by cess11 »

Thank you Mozilla for categorising me for my own good, really appreciate the effort I need to put in to try and shut it down.

'By the way, these values have come out in other contexts. I remember in an earlier war General Westmoreland saying “We had to destroy the village in order to save it”. But it was not an irony. He meant it. I mean, so did the early Christian communities that settled into this country mean it. That for a witches own good one had to dunk her repeatedly in water. Now we have come a long way since then haven’t we[?]'

https://rickroderick.org/106-nietzsche-knowledge-and-belief-...>

Re: Firefox search update

#127

Post by autoexec »

SoftTalker wrote: post #95
jmkb wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's time to stop searching from the url bar (sorry, "awesomebar") and create a local html file as the startup and new tab page, with search boxes for all your fav engines. Just like the good old days.

I did that for years, then it became difficult as browsers didn't want to let you set a local file as your default home page (for "security reasons"). I now just have "Blank Page" set for my Homepage, new windows, and new tabs. I just tried setting a local file in Firefox and it seems to work again, so I may go back to that.

about:blank is the new tab nothing else loads faster!

Re: Firefox search update

#128

Post by parasti »

Come on, Mozilla. I just want a browser. I type in an address, the browser shows me the page. You need money? Let me donate to Firefox so I don't have to continuously opt out of crap like this.

Re: Firefox search update

#129

Post by aquova »

romanows wrote: post #11

Seems like this is in support of "Firefox Suggest", which seems to show sponsored links. I really don't like advertising so I really don't like going down that road. Can't they just take Google's yearly $600,000,000 payment and build the best browser "for the user" while also addressing technical debt and organizational issues so it can continue as an open source project if/when the money ever dries up?

I constantly see this take and I'm afraid I don't agree with it. Firefox is continuing to lose market share, and I think it's less anything they're doing and due simply to the fact that Google is a household name while Mozilla is not. When the user is already using a Google phone, email, search, maps, drive, and document editor, it follows to also use their browser. Simply being a solid browser isn't enough to motivate people to switch away. So I think they should try out some new interesting ideas in the hope that some of them take off. Now, I don't think this is the feature to do that, but I won't criticize them for trying.

Re: Firefox search update

#130

Post by mardifoufs »

BadHumans wrote: post #19
romanows wrote: post #11

Seems like this is in support of "Firefox Suggest", which seems to show sponsored links. I really don't like advertising so I really don't like going down that road. Can't they just take Google's yearly $600,000,000 payment and build the best browser "for the user" while also addressing technical debt and organizational issues so it can continue as an open source project if/when the money ever dries up?

You want them to be Google's vassal state and wait for death instead of trying to become self-sustainable? Defeatist mentality if I've ever seen one.

That's what they are and have been for like 8 years. It's fine. It would be more productive to put it to good use on the browser. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have tried but... they did for almost a decade and they aren't remotely close to being able to sustain themselves without google. It's not defeatist to say that making up for the 600m$/year might be a bit of an unreachable goal at this point.

Chasing ghosts isn't more sustainable than the money from google. Yes it's a business relationship. but I'm not sure how they aren't completely "vassalized", to use your term, at this point already. It's not a potential problem, if google stops paying they would shutdown in a matter of months.

It's not a bad thing, Firefox as we know it wouldn't exist by now otherwise

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