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> UBlock, another Adblock-owned blocking extension TIL According to Wikipedia: "In July 2018, uBlock.org was acquired by AdBlock"[1] This is not uBlock Origin

by gen3 7y ago

> UBlock, another Adblock-owned blocking extension TIL According to Wikipedia: "In July 2018, uBlock.org was acquired by AdBlock"[1] This is not uBlock Origin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin

asaddhamani 7y ago
AdBlock and uBlock are both sellouts. Long live uBlock Origin!
- merpnderp 7y ago
  Wish a real version was available on Safari.
  - bspammer 7y ago
    Not sure what you mean by "real version" but this one works just fine for me: https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.el1t.uBlock-3NU33NW2M3 https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.el1t.uBl... It's true that it's about a year out of date, but I've never had any ads get through regardless.
    - merpnderp 7y ago
      It is my understanding that this is not an official port by Raymond Hill and that his name is being used without his permission. If someone knows what the actual story is on this, I'd love to know.
Operyl 7y ago
Correct. More information from the source: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-completely-unrelated-to-the-web-site-ublock.org https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-comp...
- gen3 7y ago
  I knew it was owned by someone else, I didn't expect it to have been sold to Adblock Plus though! I wish they would just hand the domain over to gorhill. It feels shady that they squat on it for the name recognition.
  - Operyl 7y ago
    Yeah .. I dislike the route that Adblock Plus went too, they make a ton of money off of lists like EasyList, and their silly Acceptable Ad (read: how is this not extortion) program.
  - dastx 7y ago
    AdBlock Plus is different from AdBlock. AdBlock is owned by an unknown entity and the source has been based on ABP since 2016. ABP is owned by Eyeo Gmbh (which I think was founded by the original developers of ABP).
  - papln 7y ago
    Aljoudi hijacked the "uBlock" name from gorhill (apparently because gorhill was more concernted about building a good tool than maintaining trademark protection, and I guess no one volunteered to donate (para)legal work), so handing it back would be a "wish" indeed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#uBlock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#uBlock
kgwxd 7y ago
uBlock Origin really really needs to do something to distinguish itself from uBlock. Every thread I read about ad blockers has a comment trying to clarify.
- papln 7y ago
  How can it distinguish itself without giving up the name that Aljoudi (and not AdBlock) has been hijacking? Imagine if a company launched a (non-Google) "Chromium" browser or non-Microsoft "Explorer" or "Edge", how would the authentic developer defend against that? (Probably with a trademark suit, which is a dificult strategy for a tiny open source project). gorhill could create a brand new name to replace Origin, but hat runs the risk of losing even more people to the knockoff "uBlock". Perhaps "uBlock Official" would be a better name than "uBlock Origin", but ultimately it comes down to a sog of hard marketing work to protect and build mindshare.
  - coldpie 7y ago
    It sucks to have to give up the name, but maybe it's just time to rip off that band-aid and do it.
    - kgwxd 7y ago
      I feel the same way. If it contains the word uBlock, it's going to loose no matter what. Maybe fork uBlock Origin, give it a new name, update the current uBlock Origin official pages to point to the new one, keeping links in older threads still relevant for a while. I'd do my part and promote the new name as much as possible. I'm already spending a lot of time typing out the explanation about the current name whenever I get a chance.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - derefr 7y ago
    > uBlock Official I’m pretty sure Eyeo did register the uBlock trademark, and has a good case to sue for someone implying through their product’s name that it’s “the official” uBlock.
simias 7y ago
I really think it was a mistake not to rename the project completely after the Origin fork. It's super confusing, especially since most of us still refer to Origin as "ublock" for short. On both Google and DDG ublock.org is still the first match when you search for "ublock". I wonder how many people install this crap extension by mistake every day.
- dole 7y ago
  I almost did just a few hours ago because of the above and luckily noticed the difference before pulling the trigger.

by gen3 7y ago

asaddhamani 7y ago

AdBlock and uBlock are both sellouts. Long live uBlock Origin!

merpnderp 7y ago
Wish a real version was available on Safari.
- bspammer 7y ago
  Not sure what you mean by "real version" but this one works just fine for me: https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.el1t.uBlock-3NU33NW2M3 https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.el1t.uBl... It's true that it's about a year out of date, but I've never had any ads get through regardless.
  - merpnderp 7y ago
    It is my understanding that this is not an official port by Raymond Hill and that his name is being used without his permission. If someone knows what the actual story is on this, I'd love to know.

Operyl 7y ago

Correct. More information from the source: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-completely-unrelated-to-the-web-site-ublock.org https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-Origin-is-comp...

gen3 7y ago
I knew it was owned by someone else, I didn't expect it to have been sold to Adblock Plus though! I wish they would just hand the domain over to gorhill. It feels shady that they squat on it for the name recognition.
- Operyl 7y ago
  Yeah .. I dislike the route that Adblock Plus went too, they make a ton of money off of lists like EasyList, and their silly Acceptable Ad (read: how is this not extortion) program.
- dastx 7y ago
  AdBlock Plus is different from AdBlock. AdBlock is owned by an unknown entity and the source has been based on ABP since 2016. ABP is owned by Eyeo Gmbh (which I think was founded by the original developers of ABP).
- papln 7y ago
  Aljoudi hijacked the "uBlock" name from gorhill (apparently because gorhill was more concernted about building a good tool than maintaining trademark protection, and I guess no one volunteered to donate (para)legal work), so handing it back would be a "wish" indeed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#uBlock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#uBlock

kgwxd 7y ago

uBlock Origin really really needs to do something to distinguish itself from uBlock. Every thread I read about ad blockers has a comment trying to clarify.

papln 7y ago
How can it distinguish itself without giving up the name that Aljoudi (and not AdBlock) has been hijacking? Imagine if a company launched a (non-Google) "Chromium" browser or non-Microsoft "Explorer" or "Edge", how would the authentic developer defend against that? (Probably with a trademark suit, which is a dificult strategy for a tiny open source project). gorhill could create a brand new name to replace Origin, but hat runs the risk of losing even more people to the knockoff "uBlock". Perhaps "uBlock Official" would be a better name than "uBlock Origin", but ultimately it comes down to a sog of hard marketing work to protect and build mindshare.
- coldpie 7y ago
  It sucks to have to give up the name, but maybe it's just time to rip off that band-aid and do it.
  - kgwxd 7y ago
    I feel the same way. If it contains the word uBlock, it's going to loose no matter what. Maybe fork uBlock Origin, give it a new name, update the current uBlock Origin official pages to point to the new one, keeping links in older threads still relevant for a while. I'd do my part and promote the new name as much as possible. I'm already spending a lot of time typing out the explanation about the current name whenever I get a chance.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- derefr 7y ago
  > uBlock Official I’m pretty sure Eyeo did register the uBlock trademark, and has a good case to sue for someone implying through their product’s name that it’s “the official” uBlock.

simias 7y ago

I really think it was a mistake not to rename the project completely after the Origin fork. It's super confusing, especially since most of us still refer to Origin as "ublock" for short. On both Google and DDG ublock.org is still the first match when you search for "ublock". I wonder how many people install this crap extension by mistake every day.

dole 7y ago
I almost did just a few hours ago because of the above and luckily noticed the difference before pulling the trigger.