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No software trick can fix OS unsafe design. Also "protecting users" limiting their power means jails them, not really protecting. End users are adult, not chil
by xte 8y ago
No software trick can fix OS unsafe design. Also "protecting users" limiting their power means jails them, not really protecting.
End users are adult, not child, and developers are others adults with ZERO right on their software's user.
If people want safer systems better learn to avoid commercial software, nothing else can help them.
- mrmr1993 8y agoI can agree in general, but, for now, disabling a firefox --install maliciousaddon.xpi and firefox --setconfig keyyoudontwant=valueyoudontlike is enough barrier to stop a majority of bad actors. None of us want users to click yes through install screens, having toolbars and spyware installed for the average user, but that has been the reality of those APIs thus far. Perhaps a more fine-grained permission model is needed for cross-application changes, but I can't think of anybody actively working on it in an OS.
- xte 8y agoHaving a simple text-based config with a repo, like [AddOns] ensure-ffpkg AddonName [Themes] set-default ThemeName install ThemeA, ThemeB [Settings] key:val ... and have the AddonName downloaded with GNUPG signature check from an official Mozilla repo is by far more save that demand using interactive GUIs. Simply ask at startup to accept "potentially dangerous" extensions if you specify a local .xpi file it the same. What you describe is the classic Windows approach that have proved enough to be ineffective and only useful for commercial practice. Mozilla is formally a foundation and Firefox is formally a FOSS project...