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Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#191

Post by jdlshore »

panoptispeech wrote: post #187

Mozilla doesn't pay nearly as well as the top tech companies out there do. Maybe the people who are left after all the best people leave end up making bad decisions. Human capital matters. Of course Mozilla's decisions look foolish to us. We (for the most part) are not the ones who couldn't move on to greener pastures.

You disagreeing with the decision doesn't make it a bad decision.

You go one step further, though, and passively-aggressively call the people making the decision incompetent. That's just rude.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#192

Post by pvg »

hackuser wrote: post #175
smnscu wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed. I found this [0] but maybe you have a better source. This was interesting though: > In the most recent Pwn2Own hacking competition, Chrome came out ahead of every other browser with only one exploit being successfully executed. 0: https://tiptopsecurity.com/what-is-the-most-secure-web-brows...

FWIW, though I'm an avid supporter of Firefox and use it, my very consistent observation is that security experts believe, * Chrome/Chromium is more secure against attacks by governments or criminals (i.e., attacks against the integrity of the system; I can't think of the right word). * Firefox may be more secure against advertising and corporate confidentiality attacks. * Firefox with certain add-ons, too technical…

The fundamental difference is that Google is a gigantic engineering organization that dedicates enormous resources to security, benefiting Chrome directly and indirectly. Over the years, lots of work has been done to ensure and improve its security at a design and architectural level.

Firefox, as this announcement shows, is just getting around to freeing itself from design decisions which may have made sense over a decade ago when Mozilla had 'software suite' ambitions but we now know are a liability for something with the security demands of a browser.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#193

Post by pjmlp »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #126
CaptSpify wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The strategy to mimick chrome makes sense, because the masses think this is how the browser -- or as they call it the "internet" -- should look like. But that's what FF has been doing for the past ~5 years, and how has their share been doing? Not so well. Chrome has much more marketing behind it. And it comes from a name that people know and trust. Most people don't know who Mozilla is. And most people don't care a…

Is it still true you can't do extensions for Chrome on Android? If so, they should just do a commercial showing you can use uBlock Origin with it. That could get a good chunk to move on Android and if they use it there they might switch on desktop too.

Most people, aka normal users, don't care for extensions other than themes, if at all.

So I doubt it would get any new users other than geek folk.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#194

Post by RyanZAG »

jdlshore wrote: post #191
panoptispeech wrote: post #187

Mozilla doesn't pay nearly as well as the top tech companies out there do. Maybe the people who are left after all the best people leave end up making bad decisions. Human capital matters. Of course Mozilla's decisions look foolish to us. We (for the most part) are not the ones who couldn't move on to greener pastures.

You disagreeing with the decision doesn't make it a bad decision. You go one step further, though, and passively-aggressively call the people making the decision incompetent. That's just rude.

Sure, but sometimes being rude is what it takes to be truthful. You can quote a lot of Firefox users who are saying this - follow this path, and they will no longer use Firefox. This isn't some idle threat, it's just what people will do. It's not a secret, it's not going to be some surprise.

So when you look back in a year's time on why Mozilla has now failed, this decision will be the obvious one.

And at that point, it might sound less rude to you.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#195

Post by jdlshore »

chrisper wrote: post #98

I installed Firefox a month ago, but it's just so sluggish and laggy. I only have one extension installed. Well, today I just switched back to Chromium (but went with Vivaldi this time).

Legacy extensions prevent multiprocess support, which causes Firefox to be sluggish and laggy.

If you disable the extension you installed, you'll probably see a big difference in Firefox performance.

This is why they're disabling those extensions.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#196

Post by sp332 »

gkya wrote: post #48
moron4hire wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla may not be an ads company, but they make the vast majority of their money from giving space to ads companies.

Where's that space?

From November 2014 to December 2015, they had ads in the new tab page.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#197

Post by sp332 »

ravenstine wrote: post #190

XUL has always been pretty terrible, IMO. But it has advantages over Chrome-style addons. Should Firefox support WebExtensions? I'd say absolutely yes. Should Mozilla remove XUL support? I'd say probably not. Or at least it should be optional, as there are clearly some people who want full control of their browser. I'm not one of those people, but I understand where they're coming from, and it would be like a food co…

That's because chrome was built that way from the beginning, and Firefox had to break their browser into pieces. And while it did stall out for a while, remember they were completely changing their JS garbage collector at the same time, which was also a huge amount of work. And both projects kept compatibility with most addons.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#198

Post by beerbaron23 »

darkengine wrote: post #44
sveme wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Does Chromium support Tree Style Tabs despite using WebExtensions? If that's the case, why would that not be possible for Firefox? Or would you switch to make a statement?

Because Chromium runs far better in my experience, especially on Linux, and especially where graphics and WebGL are concerned. If all I can use are WebExtensions, I may as well use Chromium for the speed.

You really should use Firefox if you are a heavy WebGL user, Firefox is 3 times as fast as Chrome now on Unity3D, an it's the complete opposite, Chrome is more snappy with Java and Firefox with animations/Graphics.

Here is my latest benchmark as solid proof: https://www.dropbox.com/s/58doo8csebp9l62/Bench.pdf?dl=0

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#199

Post by nine_k »

ecnahc515 wrote: post #186
nine_k wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chromium isn't, either. But the extension flexibility was one of the major points for me. I'll have to pin Firefox to 56.x in my package manager.

That's a pretty terrible idea. Your web browser is probably the most important piece of software to keep up to date, besides the OS for security reasons.

Agreed. I need time to consider alternatives.

Re: Firefox 57 as the first release where only WebExtensions will be supported

#200

Post by beerbaron23 »

smnscu wrote: post #37
cosarara97 wrote: post #2

IMO Firefox has just 2 things to beat Chrome: better add-ons (like treestyle tabs) and politics (made by Mozilla instead of an ads company). They are burning the first one.

Firefox also seems slightly faster for me than Chrome (and Safari feels _a lot_ faster), but that's not enough to switch, since I'm so used to Chrome's sane UX and sync (and with a passphrase I'm pretty comfortable having that on Google's servers).

You are correct with your experiences, Firefox and Safari are now quite quick compared to Chrome, sometimes 3x as fast.

If you are on a Macbook using battery power I highly suggest using Safari due to it's power consumption profile, your battery will last way longer.

My latest benchmarks: https://www.dropbox.com/s/58doo8csebp9l62/Bench.pdf?dl=0

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