4 ms·
> Even if WebKit is not blocked, we can be confident January 4 will be a sad day for browser diversity This is true, I hate that this is true, and I hate that
by tsm 6y ago
> Even if WebKit is not blocked, we can be confident January 4 will be a sad day for browser diversity
This is true, I hate that this is true, and I hate that there's very little to be done about it.
I use Firefox for ideological reasons, and last week got off my ass and ensured all my documents (from Dropbox), music (from Google Music / now the inferior YT Music) and photos (from Google Photos) were stored in a way I could control. My plan going forward is to use an old laptop running Syncthing as my primary source of truth for files. Email is next (but more complicated since I don't want to self-host it).
It helps me personally to take Stallmanesque approaches to managing my digital life. And if Google continues to get more and more restrictive I have the technical acumen to find or make alternatives—or figure out how to do without. But I'm worried about the growing number of non-technical users who are increasingly dependent on technology and—startlingly—increasingly less technical. People who only use Google Docs on their phone and a laptop have no reason to understand that documents correspond to files on disk that can be edited by programs running locally.
It more and more seems like the future is tech oligopoly with more and more subscription fees. What else could happen once a generation has been trained to only use Approved Tools running on Approved Servers?
- izacus 6y agoThis literaly demands that Android apps use your Firefox browser for login instead of a builtin WebView. This prevents the apps from stealing your login credentials with phished data. Seriously, what are you ranting about here? What does what you write have anything to do with a fundamental security requirement?
- tsm 6y agoI think I'm a little fired up about the Play Music -> YT Music migration, recent Google Photo storage restrictions, etc. What I see in TFA is another case of Google limiting choice in a user-hostile way. I happen to use Firefox and will be unaffected by the above, but Firefox is the only non-Webkit-based browser of any consequence. I'm incensed on behalf of people who use Epiphany or Brave or Konqueror or anything like that.
- cheeze 6y agoSo you're mad about something entirely unrelated and equating this to user hostility. If you wanna use Brave or Konqueror, go for it. As long as it's your default browser you can log in. This just prevents an app from using an embedded webview. I'm a big Firefox fan and I don't love google, but this is your standard hn 'circlejerk' of bashing google because google bad. Just like every single Amazon thread, regardless of topic, devolves into "yeah but comingling" Google can be bad and still do the right thing for user privacy. In my opinion, they did just that.
- malinens 6y agomany apps use webview for login as they have single sign-on. they dont want to re-implement logic so it works native or some other hacky things
- _jal 6y agoI don't consider resistance to a single firm having near-complete visibility into my life 'ideological'. I call it prudent. But I agree, this will make me correct my last bits of Google-use.