I think at this point I'd rather pay for a desktop browser, something with blocking baked in at compile time. It would be such a QoL improvement that it's worth paying a yearly subscription for.
I’m already paying for kagi search.
"Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
391–400 of 490 posts
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#392For people that have somehow missed the story, manifest v3 removed support for certain powerful network apis, severly limiting ad-blockers capabilities. uBlock Origin will not work anymore without manifest v2 (there's a v3 compatible lite version of uBlock Origin).
It's worth noting that the maintenance of the "lite" version is at some nonzero risk of burnout for its developers, ironically in part due to Mozilla being unnecessarily hostile: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBOL-home/issues/197#issueco... discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41707418 - and while there's no plan yet to discontinue the Chrome MV3 compatible version, there are a million ways that this c…
I imagine the focus of the developers will very quickly shift to Lite once Chrome flips the switch and 95% of uBO's user base disappears overnight. It might not be what they want, but such events have their own dynamic.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use a little `chrome-new` script to develop (and sometimes take video calls or use buggy apps) against a totally clean fresh Chrome profile, then I use Firefox with uBlock Origin and uMatrix for daily driving. #!/bin/sh [ -z $CHROME ] && CHROME=chromium TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d /dev/shm/chrome-XXXXX) $CHROME --user-data-dir=$TMPDIR --no-first-run --no-default-browser-check "$@" rm -rf $TMPDIR The first line lets me overr…
I prefer this way. Much simpler but way more aggressive: `export HOME=$TMPDIR chrome ` Will make chrome think that $TMPDIR is $HOME. Keep in mind that means your downloads for example would also be deleted after the rm -rf This works for most other software too
Better just use 'HOME=$TMPDIR chrome without the export. With export the Home variable will persist for the current shell, potentially leading to unwanted results.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Look at how many in Kaspersky’s list are advertised as ad blockers By my count 5, 6 if we include "Autoskip for Youtube", out of 34. That might be an argument for dropping extensions, but I don't think it's an argument for breaking ad blockers.
> That might be an argument for dropping extensions Those extensions used the same API that ad blockers used, but for malicious purposes. So, you would support removing that API? Well, that’s what they did for MV3 and implemented an API just for ad blocking.
> Those extensions used the same API that ad blockers used, but for malicious purposes.
Sounds like an obvious chance to flag the extension for further review, and probably a warning on the user side.
> So, you would support removing that API?
Of course not; that's throwing out the baby with the bath water. This brings us back to the "further review" thing; there's plenty of precedent for a platform having API surface that only a smaller subset of apps/extensions are allowed to use, because the features it exposes are legitimately needed for some things but it could be abused so it gets flagged and you have to write a detailed explanation for why your thing really needs this permission and then the reviewers can look at it particularly closely.
> Well, that’s what they did for MV3 and implemented an API just for ad blocking.
And then for bonus points they hobbled it so that it couldn't be used to make as good of ad blockers, which is why the whole thing is not okay.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
MS Edge, Arc, and Sidekick have features Chrome doesn't such as split screen, side panels, and vertical tabs. Likewise for Firefox forks such as Zen.
None of those things are anything close to killer features much less reasons to switch. Verticle tabs, seriously?
It is all a gimmick but as long as people are switching to a chromium based browser and not Firefox I'm happy. With that said, I don't know how anyone would trust a small team to build them a secure and safe browser. Chrome is so battle tested at this point and Google puts a lot of resources in maintaining it, they stand to lose a lot more given their scale.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
MS Edge, Arc, and Sidekick have features Chrome doesn't such as split screen, side panels, and vertical tabs. Likewise for Firefox forks such as Zen.
None of those things are anything close to killer features much less reasons to switch. Verticle tabs, seriously?
Split screen done well would be a killer feature for me. Last time I looked Edge support was ok, but not great. But what kills Edge for me as a daily driver is the basic usability in managing bookmarks and tabs. It's stop and go for every basic operation like dragging objects while Firefox is simply a continuous flow. Firefox is invisible, Edge just gets in the way all the time.
Otherwise Edge is not bad at all. Chrome without MV2 is dead to me.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People--especially tech nerds--didn't have to switch to the closed source, conflict-of-interest, browser. Do you not remember all the ads promoting chrome? First was chrome-frame IE extension, then came all the ads - then tie-ins where you got Chrome in addition when you really wanted some other app. They pushed it hard because they knew they had no real competitors and could eat up marketshare.
Chrome won because it was more performant (read: only point of interest for Joe Average) and it was modern and cool (read: only point of interest for nerds). Firefox failed because it stagnated on performance and code quality (read: memory leaks for daaaaaaaaays) and ultimately because Mozilla was corrupted by Mitchell Baker and still is to this very day driving away nerds and engineers by the truckload. Lest we forg…
Google spent astronomical amounts of money advertising Chrome, including pushing Chrome from literally priceless Web real estate like the Google start page, bundling deals with e.g. Flash, and preinstalls on various desktops and laptops. It really is hard to say what would have happened without that advantage.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#398Has anyone been using the v3 compatible version of uBlock Origin? Have you noticed much of a difference? From what I read there isn't supposed to be much of a difference?
I used the lite version while on chromium for some time. I noticed no difference in terms of blocking ads. The main thing I missed was the ability to block arbitrary elements with the zapper. I use this for more than just ads, so losing it is a real loss in functionality. Otherwise it worked fine.
Yeah the zapper is indispensable. Being able to filter content on platforms by the words in post titles is one of the best ways to not be exposed to toxic content.
Never leaving your subscriptions (never using the algorithm recommended feed) is not a solution because of second-hand toxicity, e.g. political posts in meme subreddits in an election year.
If anyone knows of a solution that works in Manifest V3 I'd love to hear it!
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chrome to Firefox is a relatively easy switch, especially for those that don’t depend on Google sync. The main sources of friction for me were the lack of a good profile switching UI (solved with a browser extension that mimics the Chrome menu), and weird security requirements for homemade extensions (IIRC if you want to have the extension persist after restarting Firefox, you need to sign the extension, which is a p…
I've tried to switch from Vivaldi to Floorp and there is some things that Firefox does that drive me absolutely nuts. The main one is the behaviour of pinned tabs. Pinning in Firefox turns it into an icon that is harder to hit and doesn't even protect it from closing. This makes them essentially useless, they should be moved to the front of the tab bar and be protected from closing. The second is that when you use ve…
> they should be moved to the front of the tab bar and be protected from closing.
Firefox pinned tabs are moved to the LHS of the tab bar, they have no close button and ctrl-W doesn't close them. How much more do you want them to be protected from closing?
This is actually one thing where Firefox is clearly better than Chrome ... Chrome pinned tabs close with ctrl-W which is really easy to do accidentally.
Re: "Begin disabling installed extensions still using Manifest V2 in Chrome stable"
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not saying it cannot happen, but in Firefox, it is a “Recommended“ extension which gets reviewed per release. A sophisticated attack could slip through, but a ham fisted takeover is unlikely.
It's also worth mentioning that Firefox doesn't force you to auto-update add-ons, but Chrome/Chromium do. (There was a hack workaround to keep Chromium from updating, but I forgot what it was or if it still works. It wasn't a trivial option in the browser itself like it should be.)
I use a certain extension. An update turned the extension into payware, locking 90% of the features behind a paywall. So I refuse to update it and instead continue to use the revision that still has all the original features. I would be absolutely incensed and outraged if my browser insisted on forcing me to update this extension!
Surely there are better ways for a developer to make money off of an existing extension without suddenly locking previously available functions behind a paywall. Perhaps instead paywall NEW features? Or ask for donations?