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Yes, new stuff will work, but not the stuff we have been using for years (which for a time will be much more capable than the WebExtensions add-ons). That woul

Yes, new stuff will work, but not the stuff we have been using for years (which for a time will be much more capable than the WebExtensions add-ons). That would be noticeable, unlike what the title suggests.

moron4hire 10y ago
Only to the few people who use those extensions. Most user's don't use any extensions at all.
- tux1968 10y ago
  What are you basing that on? A quick google suggests that at one point 85% of users used extensions.. and as of last year it was still 60% https://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/06/surprise-40-of-firefox-users-dont-use-add-ons/ https://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/06/surprise-40-of-firefox-use...
  - gpm 10y ago
    And how many of those 60% just use ublock or something similar, which will continue working, and no other extensions?
    - tux1968 10y ago
      That really wasn't the point of my post. The claim made by the parent post was that "Most user's don't use any extensions at all."
      - gpm 10y ago
        My apologies, I didn't mean to come across as disagreeing with what you said, but just to put it in better context for the larger discussion of how noticeable disabling non-web extensions will be to the average user.
    - carussell 10y ago
      You're moving the goalposts.
hashhar 10y ago
Instead of crying about it, WE can add suggested APIs to be included in the WebExtensions extension Firefox is using. They recently added the Sidebar API which allows a form for vertical tabs but nobody has implemented trees yet.
- jplayer01 10y ago
  They've shown themselves to be quite reluctant to accommodate the needs of vim extension authors (such as Vimperator). They can get bent.
  - Etzos 10y ago
    As someone who hasn't followed the actual specifics here, do you happen to have any links to those discussions/issues or other places these things happened? I'd really like to see their reasoning.
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    Theres also been quite heated discussions (and hostility from Mozilla devs, to be frank) around the Zotero plugin, see e.g. Dan Stillman's 2015 blog post and email-list-threads linked there. https://danstillman.com/2015/11/23/firefox-extension-scanning-is-security-theater?firefox-against-censorship https://danstillman.com/2015/11/23/firefox-extension-scannin... Edit: for those who don't want to dig, a random quote: "Shortly before we left AMO [Firefox's integrated addon channel], an AMO editor publicly told someone asking a technical question about Zotero that Zotero was “evil”, adding, “They submit a new version every week, with thousands of lines of changes, nearly always additions. Every time I review it I hope they’ll go bankrupt”" It seems (from many signals) very much like Mozilla would prefer it if most Firefox addons were tiny 200 line hobby projects that got updated once a blue moon.
    - callahad 10y ago
      Many AMO Editors are volunteers, and all are human. We've significantly adjusted the AMO review guidelines and processes to avoid that sort of mishap in the future, as acknowledged at the end of that post. We're working hard on further changes to the process to reduce the stress and delays associated with manual review, including moving the review process to a post-publication check, instead of a pre-publication requirement. The heavy-handed review process was necessary with the old model of add-ons which had unrestricted access to the browser and to the host system. The new, permissions-based WebExtension model is dramatically easier to audit.

moron4hire 10y ago

Only to the few people who use those extensions. Most user's don't use any extensions at all.

tux1968 10y ago
What are you basing that on? A quick google suggests that at one point 85% of users used extensions.. and as of last year it was still 60% https://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/06/surprise-40-of-firefox-users-dont-use-add-ons/ https://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/06/surprise-40-of-firefox-use...
- gpm 10y ago
  And how many of those 60% just use ublock or something similar, which will continue working, and no other extensions?
  - tux1968 10y ago
    That really wasn't the point of my post. The claim made by the parent post was that "Most user's don't use any extensions at all."
    - gpm 10y ago
      My apologies, I didn't mean to come across as disagreeing with what you said, but just to put it in better context for the larger discussion of how noticeable disabling non-web extensions will be to the average user.
  - carussell 10y ago
    You're moving the goalposts.

hashhar 10y ago

Instead of crying about it, WE can add suggested APIs to be included in the WebExtensions extension Firefox is using. They recently added the Sidebar API which allows a form for vertical tabs but nobody has implemented trees yet.

jplayer01 10y ago
They've shown themselves to be quite reluctant to accommodate the needs of vim extension authors (such as Vimperator). They can get bent.
- Etzos 10y ago
  As someone who hasn't followed the actual specifics here, do you happen to have any links to those discussions/issues or other places these things happened? I'd really like to see their reasoning.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  Theres also been quite heated discussions (and hostility from Mozilla devs, to be frank) around the Zotero plugin, see e.g. Dan Stillman's 2015 blog post and email-list-threads linked there. https://danstillman.com/2015/11/23/firefox-extension-scanning-is-security-theater?firefox-against-censorship https://danstillman.com/2015/11/23/firefox-extension-scannin... Edit: for those who don't want to dig, a random quote: "Shortly before we left AMO [Firefox's integrated addon channel], an AMO editor publicly told someone asking a technical question about Zotero that Zotero was “evil”, adding, “They submit a new version every week, with thousands of lines of changes, nearly always additions. Every time I review it I hope they’ll go bankrupt”" It seems (from many signals) very much like Mozilla would prefer it if most Firefox addons were tiny 200 line hobby projects that got updated once a blue moon.
  - callahad 10y ago
    Many AMO Editors are volunteers, and all are human. We've significantly adjusted the AMO review guidelines and processes to avoid that sort of mishap in the future, as acknowledged at the end of that post. We're working hard on further changes to the process to reduce the stress and delays associated with manual review, including moving the review process to a post-publication check, instead of a pre-publication requirement. The heavy-handed review process was necessary with the old model of add-ons which had unrestricted access to the browser and to the host system. The new, permissions-based WebExtension model is dramatically easier to audit.