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Why I’m done with Chrome

blog.cryptographyengineering.com

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Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#61

Post by watwut »

heartbreak wrote: post #16
zbrozek wrote: post #9

I engaged with the folks pushing this feature internally when my own browser started enforcing omnidirectional login. One of my specific complaints was that it was an end-run around the user-provided sync passphrase, which nominally prevents Google from hoovering up my logged-out history. They didn't grok my privacy issue. Maybe they were deliberately misunderstanding me. Doesn't matter either way. Now I use Firefox.

This feature doesn’t enable sync. That’s something that members of the Chrome team have been patiently trying to explain to Matthew Green on Twitter for several days now. [0] https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/1043505744144826369?s=21

Reading that thread, Green knows this and his argument is more subtle then that.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#62

Post by brian-armstrong »

hellbanner wrote: post #48
hellofunk wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could use it but it has serious performance problems on macOS. I tried and it was just terrible. (thought not all Mac users have problems, quite a number do, and Mozilla has an open issue asking for debugging logs from Macs to find the reasons).

Yep. And Google Voice runs horribly on iOS.. 20 second lag time to check messages, no joke. Earlier versions would freeze at the beginning of each character you type. Makes me wonder if companies aren't just slowing down their competitors..

It's possible, but it's much more likely that off-platform teams just don't get much love from their orgs. iTunes on Windows comes to mind, for example.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#63

Post by arthurrichards »

I use firefox and have an addon to specifically erase my google cookies when I close the browser. I don't see a problem with this new chrome feature. Ive seen users logging into eachothers browser gmail, maybe google is democratizing the info they collect so everyone can access it? :) Ill point to this again https://youbroketheinternet.org/trackedanyway

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#64

Post by sha666sum »

lucb1e wrote: post #5
aphextron wrote: post #2

So I wanted to drop Chrome a while ago, and looked at Chromium. Apparently using the "no sync" version you can no longer even log into Gmail (or any other Google service) on the web. That was definitely the last straw for me losing trust in Google, but there's just no good alternative. I'm not sure where to go from here because it seems pointless to even use Chromium if I can't remove Google from it and still be able…

If you're really set on a Chrome-like browser, there's ungoogled chromium. Otherwise, I guess Firefox is the only truly free choice at this point, and even that includes DRM to be able to cope with sites like Netflix. Edit: actually, there should be more browsers that I don't know about because I haven't really looked around anymore since choosing Firefox a decade ago. Is anything as well-supported (in terms of prope…

Firefox DRM is only downloaded after explicit user consent.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#65

Post by mehrdadn »

stefano wrote: post #50
mehrdadn wrote: post #32

For now at least, there's this escape hatch: chrome://flags/#account-consistency Edit: Some are saying this doesn't work on Chrome 69. :(

When you're looking for escape hatches, you know the software is working against you. At that point, it's better to move to an alternative browser, it's not worth it to fight it with hacks. If too many people use the escape hatch, they'll remove it.

I know. I was just trying to help another poor soul like myself in the interim of figuring out how to switch. For me at least, it's very nontrivial work.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#67

Post by duiker101 »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #10

Firefox is a truly fantastic browser now. I've been using it again for about 2 years and haven't regretted it at all. There have been a couple of weird feature hiccups but generally Mozilla seems to get things right.

My browser of choice is Vivaldi, the most features and flexibility. Love it.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#68

Post by kbenson »

aphextron wrote: post #38
nerdwaller wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there’s just no good alternative Are you referring to the chromium space options, or the browser market as a whole? I’ve never left Firefox and still find it to be a pleasant browser, one with which I’ve never felt really left out barring a few annoying bugs from time to time that are typically short lived.

I love Firefox in theory, it's just that in practice I've never been able to stick with it. One thing or another always leaves me running back to Chrome. It's possible that it's just my own bias and familiarity, but I'm not principled enough to endure an inferior experience in any way. Plus working in chrome dev tools all day long, you really miss it when you want to pop something open and look under the hood real qu…

Firefox's web tools are slightly different, but very comparable.

Firefox container tabs are game changing.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#69

Post by stonogo »

stefano wrote: post #17
anothergoogler wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using Ubuntu's Chromium package and it isn't "un-googled" at all (69.0.3497.81-0ubuntu0.18.04.1). Any Ubuntu users have tips?

Firefox is completely ungoogled once you change the default search engine.

Except for the Google Analytics embedded into the extension system.
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