I've been a die-hard Firefox guy for a long time ... I stuck around while the browser was being surpassed in performance by Chrome[0]. I left briefly when deve

I've been a die-hard Firefox guy for a long time ... I stuck around while the browser was being surpassed in performance by Chrome[0]. I left briefly when developer edition was updated in a manner that prevented my most relied upon add-ons from working. This move, when I first read about it, rubbed me the wrong way. As things have settled out, though, I'm a lot less quick to want to jump ship. In the context of a simple "easter egg" kind of thing, it's actually somewhat cool (I'm a fan of Mr. Robot, personally, so hey -- that helps a little)[1]. I think what bugged me the most is the lack of communication. Upon first reading about the "bug", it sounded like it was something that was "on by default" and potentially being used to collect data. It at least sounds like it was disabled unless you intentionally turned a setting on in about:config. OK, I guess. It would have been nice if there was better communication once the crap hit the fan and The Internet started panicking. The "easter egg" idea isn't something most of us would complain about if a very clear explanation was available upon discovery, but the fact that it was a promotion with NBC Universal, I think, is where a lot of folks got seriously upset. I know it was the first red flag I latched onto. Frankly, it's hard to imagine a worse company to enter into this kind of an agreement with and the way this was implemented just looks really bad -- as an add-on that appears to be a telemetry-type service. I think NBC Universal and the first two things that come to mind are the MPAA and their desire to burn down the internet if it keeps people from downloading movies ... and Comcast -- bandwidth caps, JavaScript injection, abysmal customer service, ever rising Internet bills (especially if -- as is often the case -- you live in an area where they are the only provider). It's a shame they had to suffer such a poor lapse of judgement at a time when the press around Firefox was turning so heavily in its favor. This was, hopefully, a painful enough shot in the foot that something like this won't happen, again. But who knows? Out of the options, available, I'm sticking with Firefox for now. [0] Part of this was my stubborn refusal to import my bookmarks mixed with the convenience of sync being setup everywhere I used it, part of it was a general dirty feeling I got from using a browser from a company (Google) who's becoming increasingly aggressive in asserting their monopoly positions. [1] And there's no irony lost about the fact that a show that would directly appeal to security engineers was being promoted in a way that would cause a security engineer to lose his/her mind.