2 ms·

Because (1) add-ons are known to have performance and compatibility issues (e.g. breaking websites - I recall hearing that the vast majority of website breakage

Because (1) add-ons are known to have performance and compatibility issues (e.g. breaking websites - I recall hearing that the vast majority of website breakage reports for FF were just due to addons) on desktop, (2) these problems would almost certainly be worse on mobile, (3) even though it'll be the addon's fault that'll still result in a bad reputation for Firefox, and (4) Mozilla cares more about the reputation of Firefox than user freedom. I think that #4 is bad, but I believe it to be true, with moderate certainty. I believe 1-3 to be true with high certainty.

nisa 4y ago
But this could have been "solved" by a flag in some advanced settings dialogue or about:config - the collection workaround is terrible.
- throw10920 4y ago
  I believe bureaucratic organizations to be incapable of this in general. See the Signal Foundation and its recent braindead decision to remove SMS from Signal instead of putting it behind an advanced setting or using a warning message.
solarkraft 4y ago
This shit hurts their reputation more than anything.
- throw10920 4y ago
  Definitely among the tech-savvy - but, unfortunately, I believe that it still ends up being a net positive for them for the average non-tech savvy users. Think of how many people switched from Firefox to Chrome when Chrome started being faster and more stable - despite how much less customizable it was, and how many fewer addons it had. I believe that this is a problem that should be fixed with tech education - but until then, the above hold, as sucky as it is.
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    I know 2 non-technical users who use Firefox on Android and they use it because I recommended it. Their reputation with technical users is almost everything they have left and they're doing their best to destroy it further and further. This decision looks to be a rare exception, but if you still need their dumb account effectively nothing will have changed...

nisa 4y ago

But this could have been "solved" by a flag in some advanced settings dialogue or about:config - the collection workaround is terrible.

throw10920 4y ago
I believe bureaucratic organizations to be incapable of this in general. See the Signal Foundation and its recent braindead decision to remove SMS from Signal instead of putting it behind an advanced setting or using a warning message.

solarkraft 4y ago

This shit hurts their reputation more than anything.

throw10920 4y ago
Definitely among the tech-savvy - but, unfortunately, I believe that it still ends up being a net positive for them for the average non-tech savvy users. Think of how many people switched from Firefox to Chrome when Chrome started being faster and more stable - despite how much less customizable it was, and how many fewer addons it had. I believe that this is a problem that should be fixed with tech education - but until then, the above hold, as sucky as it is.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  I know 2 non-technical users who use Firefox on Android and they use it because I recommended it. Their reputation with technical users is almost everything they have left and they're doing their best to destroy it further and further. This decision looks to be a rare exception, but if you still need their dumb account effectively nothing will have changed...