this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2023
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Privacy

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And since you won't be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility.

The community feedback is... interesting to say the least.

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[–] FoxBJK@midwest.social 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm old enough to remember when the line was "IE has 90% marketshare and nothing's going to change that"

Yes the landscape is different now, but these are free apps and there are competitors out there. It takes only a few minutes to switch to Firefox. Google's hold on this market is not as ironclad as people may think.

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Mozilla Foundation is kept alive with Google money, for the express purpose of being able to show there's an alternative and that Chrome is not technically a monopoly. But Firefox will never challenge Chrome on anything that truly matters.

[–] FoxBJK@midwest.social 4 points 1 year ago

It's not just for that. They do make money out of being the default search engine. Safari exists, Google doesn't need Mozilla to avoid anti-trust lawsuits.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

Mozilla Foundation is kept alive with Google money, for the express purpose of being able to show there’s an alternative and that Chrome is not technically a monopoly.

Circa 1997: Apple, Inc is kept alive with Microsoft money ($150 million), for the express purpose of being able to show there's an alternative and that Windows is not technically a monopoly.

[–] bro@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This a conspiracy, or validated claim? Either way, I believe it.

[–] CallumWells@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-05-05/why-google-keeps-paying-mozilla-s-firefox-even-as-chrome-dominates (I haven't read that article because I didn't allow javascript there or something), and https://www.wired.com/2011/12/why-google-continues-to-fund-firefox/

Not necessarily explicitly supporting the claim made above, but the information is interesting.

[–] bro@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Can't say I'm surprised..

Seems a necessary arrangement to keep Mozilla alive and Google on the throne. After reading that, I doubt it's possible for Firefox to ever get out from under Google's wing, but I can see Google eventually tossing Firefox from the nest. I guess that's how business works...

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If Google gets this going, Firefox has the choice of either adopting the same DRM support or being perceived as that browser where websites don't work properly like they do in Chrome. It'll be hard to persuade people who don't understand what's going on to adopt it out of principle. Something like this already happened with the media DRM support that browsers currently have.

[–] CallumWells@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

And I already hate the media DRM stuff and have it disabled in my browsers.