Submitted 1 day ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to technology@beehaw.org
https://www.theverge.com/tech/845216/mozilla-ceo-anthony-enzor-demeo
He says he could begin to block ad blockers in Firefox and estimates that’d bring in another $150 million, but he doesn’t want to do that. It feels off-mission.
Doesn’t want to do that? Just like how 6 months ago, Sam Altman said he didn’t want OpenAI to do adult content? Hopefully I’m overreacting, but I’m worried more about this kind of thinking than an AI feature.
That’s a long terme goal sadly :/ Either they’re slowly doing this to avoid a mass movement to another browser (but which one :() or that’s some inside job to slowly kill and let Firefox die ^^
Info on how to disable AI anti-features from Firefox here and here.
I’m getting real tired of this shit. It isn’t just Firefox, or large token models; every fucking little thing nowadays has anti-features, that go against why I want that thing, that I need to work around, that makes every simple task a bloody chore.
::: spoilers I’m going to rant a few examples here because they’re all bottled up. I open my bank phone application. Then I unlock it through biometry. Then I close 9001 useless pop-ups. Then I can actually check if my client paid me. Every bloody single time.
I open my e-mail. Sometimes it asks for login, that’s fine. But if it does, it’ll try to force me to give it my phone number. There’s no “no, stop asking”, only a “MaYbE LaTeR LoL”. Keep in mind that email account is older than some adults here in the Fediverse.
COVID times I had to buy a new microwaves oven. It lacks numbers buttons; instead it has a bunch of useless buttons for popped maize, brigadeiro, milk, pudding, soup. If I want to heat my cats’ frozen food for 35s, I can’t simply press “3”, then “5”, then “on”, like I did with the old one — I need to press +10s four times, then “on”, then stare the bloody thing until there are 5s left, then stop it prematurely.
I go buy some slippers. Seller says I should register for their “discounts program” or crap like that. I tell her [translated] “no, thanks, I only want the slippers”. Seller asks me “Why?”, as if I had any legal or moral obligation to justify my decisions. I tell her “I do not want it. I only want to buy a pair of slippers.” She insists, vomiting some explanation on that bloody shite discounts program I give no flying fucks about, until I cut her short and say “I give up. I’m buying it elsewhere.” and leave the shop (and the slippers). I shit you not, I had an easier time buying nitric acid in the 00s than slippers now in the 20s. :::
That bloody browser is the cherry of the cake for me. I already avoid Chromium and similar Google trash as much as possible, as I know Google vultures the shit out of your personal info; now every bloody time Firefox updates I need to check two computers, two phones, and a few household electronics for potential shit to disable. Do I need to sell my soul to Satan to make things simpler again? Oh wait, souls don’t exist so I’m out of luck.
Well, that’s not good news.
Goodbye then
The issue I have with the responses are that forking or running lite browsers is not a solution but a work around. A work around that requires vigilance in the rapidly changing tech space. Most people can’t do that. It won’t result in systematic change that we need to stop enshitification. I’m not downplaying your work and a counter movement, far from it, but its simply not enough without more resources to stop the deluge of nonsense.
I dont have answers, and there are too many challenges to count to list here. From politics to how business schools teach. So we are stuck with a domineering overlord with both the resources to make it all look simple and fluid and to make the work of innovators increasingly difficult.
The ability to fork is core to the FOSS movement, and I certainly don’t trust any govt to decide how all browsers should be made. I don’t consider FOSS or competition to be a workaround, I consider that to be the best possible solution to this problem.
Man, I’ve been a staunch defender of Mozilla for a long time, but they’re making it clearer and clearer that they just want to be Chrome. I think it’s time to start hunting for another, again.
Maybe I’ll give PaleMoon another go! I was surprised to see Maxthon and Midori were still alive, but they seem a little shady now?
Well lets hope that she will be relieved of her position soon then…
“He” this time. The CEO keeps changing, but their mission keeps getting worse
Well, I’ll take Manifest v3 over AI, so I guess I’m switching to Vivaldi.
+1 for Librewolf. Works just as I expect it to without getting in the way. The way Firefox used to be.
Even better! Thanks for pointing those out.
Or you could use a fork that strips out the AI shit.
I switched to Waterfox on my Chromebook running Kubuntu.
As anti-AI as I am, this is way less sensational than the headline makes it sound. They’re adding an AI mode that’s basically a built-in extension. Sounds easy to disable. I hate this shit, but you have to grant that Mozilla is a small company fighting for survival. They are probably just doing this to stay relevant (maybe they can get more money from google by being the default AI provider as well), and they may just as quickly drop this when the AI bubble finally pops. I am willing to forgive Mozilla for a little more than I forgive Microsoft, who has no real reason to push this AI hype other than trying to get more rich.
money from google by…
I mean, in a way it has always been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Default search provider - fair enough to change - but now that ain’t good enough for google, and it won’t ever be
Mozilla: Continuing Netscape’s legacy of shitty leadership.
Mozilla: Still pissed they only shipped a browser and email client instead of obtaining W O R L D D O M I N A T I O N!!!
Zier@fedia.io 1 day ago
Mozilla is trying so hard to kill Firefox.