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I agree with Mozilla's views politically, but Pocket is proprietary. It's a major flaw. Something proprietary (I know the Firefox integration is free now, but t

by caslon 6y ago

I agree with Mozilla's views politically, but Pocket is proprietary. It's a major flaw. Something proprietary (I know the Firefox integration is free now, but the server isn't), controlled by an American corporation, turned on by default, that sends content to the user. If it was only an RSS reader, fine. But it sends arbitrary content to the user from Pocket's servers! What if there's an RCE? Their refusal to free Pocket despite it being years since the acquisition points to something sinister, like a NSL.

Wingy 6y ago
What is a NSL? I looked it up and didn't find anything relevant.
- caslon 6y ago
  National Security Letter; if the government wants to force you to backdoor some software, they send you one. That's why most projects have canaries.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Generally on F-Droid if an app talks to a non-free server component, the app is labeled "this app promotes non-free network resources", but the majority of Free Software-loving nerds install that app anyway. After all, it still beats using stuff like the Google Play Store. So why is Firefox doing the same thing so heinous that people would completely refuse to use it, and use one of the proprietary browsers instead?
- caslon 6y ago
  There are other non-proprietary browsers, and Firefox is not innately better than any of them. Icecat for example. Or Epiphany. I really, really dislike Brave, and despise the person responsible for it, but even it's freer than Firefox in this regard.
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    Icecat (like Fennec F-Droid, too) is simply a rebranding of Firefox, and so dependent on Firefox’s ongoing development. My concern is that if people keep attacking Firefox so vehemently, that will weaken its long-term survival, and there will be less chance of the Firefox forks, too, surviving.
    - caslon 6y ago
      I know IceCat is a rebranding of Firefox. It doesn't include the Pocket integration, and therefore is an upgrade. If Firefox dies, it honestly wouldn't be a massive loss for the open web at this point. Webkit and Blink are sufficiently divergent that we would more or less be in the same position we were when Firefox was introduced. Mozilla's been giving their executives raises while laying off the people who actually make the thing for years now, anyway. It above everything else has sabotaged its ability for long-term survival; no amount of internet rage will change the fact that Mozilla itself does not want Firefox to survive. And its forks would likely survive; Pale Moon has somehow been able to keep at roughly feature parity for ages now despite having forked off a long time ago.

by caslon 6y ago

Wingy 6y ago

What is a NSL? I looked it up and didn't find anything relevant.

caslon 6y ago
National Security Letter; if the government wants to force you to backdoor some software, they send you one. That's why most projects have canaries.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago

Generally on F-Droid if an app talks to a non-free server component, the app is labeled "this app promotes non-free network resources", but the majority of Free Software-loving nerds install that app anyway. After all, it still beats using stuff like the Google Play Store. So why is Firefox doing the same thing so heinous that people would completely refuse to use it, and use one of the proprietary browsers instead?

caslon 6y ago
There are other non-proprietary browsers, and Firefox is not innately better than any of them. Icecat for example. Or Epiphany. I really, really dislike Brave, and despise the person responsible for it, but even it's freer than Firefox in this regard.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  Icecat (like Fennec F-Droid, too) is simply a rebranding of Firefox, and so dependent on Firefox’s ongoing development. My concern is that if people keep attacking Firefox so vehemently, that will weaken its long-term survival, and there will be less chance of the Firefox forks, too, surviving.
  - caslon 6y ago
    I know IceCat is a rebranding of Firefox. It doesn't include the Pocket integration, and therefore is an upgrade. If Firefox dies, it honestly wouldn't be a massive loss for the open web at this point. Webkit and Blink are sufficiently divergent that we would more or less be in the same position we were when Firefox was introduced. Mozilla's been giving their executives raises while laying off the people who actually make the thing for years now, anyway. It above everything else has sabotaged its ability for long-term survival; no amount of internet rage will change the fact that Mozilla itself does not want Firefox to survive. And its forks would likely survive; Pale Moon has somehow been able to keep at roughly feature parity for ages now despite having forked off a long time ago.