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"Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

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Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#171
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'the rationale that they are actively evaluating other develoment platforms? "However, now that Ladybird has forked and become its own independent project, all constraints previously imposed by SerenityOS are no longer in effect. We are actively evaluating a number of alternatives and will be adding a mature successor language to the project in the near future. This process is already quite far along, and prototypes…

They need to commit to not using C/C++ for the majority of the project. If not, then yes it can’t be taken seriously.

Unlike existing browsers?

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#172
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'unsafe language' sounds like something out of '1984' or 'Animal Farm'; a totalitarian political euphemism, attempting to demonize all 'others'. The reality is that no language is actually 'safe', and 'safety' itself is a complex trade-off between enforced restrictions, flexibility, and other factors, just like in life.

Developers gotta have religion. It's not about fear of death like mainstream churches, it's about fear of buffer overflows.

Developers already had a religion, the Church of Emacs. Heretics will not be tolerated.

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#173
post #91

OK I'll step up, senior dev of 30 or so years, and sick to death of the likes of Google ad-men trying to ruin things - how do I help? That said, keeping up with changes in JS/ecma seems hard. Whats the answer?

> how do I help? Ads aren't very important really, if you want to help, I recommend donating all your money to those in need and volunteering at a local homeless shelter, soup kitchen, or anything of the like.

Considering that we have long had the ability to feed an house everyone and ads are a big part of the machine sucking a huge chunk of human wealth into the pockets of a minority your time is much better spent taking down that machine than it is picking up the trash it dumps in your neighborhood.

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#174
post #117

The fact they didn't loudly announce this 'feature' has seriously undermined their trustworthiness, for me at least. What's the expression; 'So much depends on reputation. Guard it with your life'. Mozilla seem to be just throwing it away.

Who would rather trust? Apple, Microsoft, Google? Realistically, these are the organizations that can afford to develop a high performance browser engine. All the chrome and firefox forks probably don't have the devs or infrastructure to fork blink/gecko and keep up with security and features. It's easy to be excited about Ladybird -- and maybe it will work, MAYBE. It's fair to argue that we've let the web evolve int…

I agree with you- people are really weird about Mozilla, and I almost always defend them (check my comment history)

But wow this is vile. I did not expect this from them. Bad enough that I'm not sure if I can reccomend Firefox over a fork anymore

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#175
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to commit to not using C/C++ for the majority of the project. If not, then yes it can’t be taken seriously.

Unlike existing browsers?

Existing browsers have an existing codebase to deal with.

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the Ladybird FAQ for their rationale, but building a new browser in 2024 using an unsafe language is such a facepalm it’s hard to take the entire project seriously.

'unsafe language' sounds like something out of '1984' or 'Animal Farm'; a totalitarian political euphemism, attempting to demonize all 'others'. The reality is that no language is actually 'safe', and 'safety' itself is a complex trade-off between enforced restrictions, flexibility, and other factors, just like in life.

Instead of "unsafe", we could use "computer verified correctness" or something similar. Truth is that humans make mistakes and Rust is the only "project" which achieves verified correctness in some critical areas, in projects of any complexity.

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#177

Q: How many people are using a web browser on a daily basis worldwide as their main window to the collective infosphere? A: Billions. Q: What fraction of the corresponding GDP would it take to fund a serious browser-as-public-good initiative that would develop this technology to its full potential without the perverse constraints of adtech business models? A: 0.0001%? Too small to compute? The idea that critical comm…

There is an "argument" that people online put forward, perhaps to try to preserve the status quo. It goes something like this: Every browser must implement every "web standard".^1 Meanwhile the incumbent browser vendors profiting from online ads are on the committees that decide what will be the standards. Have also seen Mozilla supporters on HN claim Firefox must "compete" with Chrome and that this means matching ne…

in 2024, Mozilla still enables sending the Referer: header by default. May I suggest that any criticism Mozilla receives about supporting website operator and advertiser interests before www user interests is deserved.

Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"

#178
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't reasonably claim "they would not pay for the browser, or pay a subscription [fee]" when it is not even possible for a user to donate to the Firefox project specifically.

Its rather annoying that theres no way to support firefox without sending money to a Mozilla ceo who could use it for some silly side project

I believe it’s worse than that. I don’t think they can use donated funds for Firefox development since donations are tax-deductible and Firefox is a for-profit company.
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