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I think some of this might be Firefox OS mentality creeping into the browser. I have used Firefox since right after it stopped being called Firebird (0.8 - 0.9
by nathanb 11y ago
I think some of this might be Firefox OS mentality creeping into the browser.
I have used Firefox since right after it stopped being called Firebird (0.8 - 0.9 days). I loved it because it seemed to be built around an aesthetic of tinkering. Coming from Konqueror, which is like the tape deck in your mom's minivan, Firefox was like a fancy hi-fi sound system. You get decent sound with the defaults, but if you really know what you're doing you can produce jaw-dropping results.
In grad school, I did some research work examining and improving a Firefox extension. I had toyed with extension writing before, but the power that extensions had over the DOM on one end and the whole browser experience on the other end was amazing.
Now, I think Mozilla developers have gotten the Firefox OS mentality and are treating the browser core like a kernel. Sure, you can do anything you want in user mode, but the kernel is inviolable.
I understand that Firefox is a Big Boy browser now. People are using it the world over; using it in corporate settings; trusting it to keep their personal information safe. That has got to put a lot of pressure on the Mozilla devs to make sure the browser is locked down as tight as can be.
I can install the Developer Edition. I can still tinker. I can customize my own experience to my heart's content. But as an extension author myself, I sympathize mightily with the developers of DownThemAll. I want to make others' browsing experiences better too, and lately I feel like Mozilla have been working against me rather than with me on this.
Firefox is actually a really good browser. They've made some pretty questionable decisions of late, but I do think their tech is as good as any browser tech out there today. But I liked Firefox not because I like their browser but because I could make it my browser, and Mozilla keep making it harder to do that. That makes me sad.