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Can a browser just be a fucking browser? Every stupid fucking feature they cram in is yet another security issue waiting to explode in our face. Just make a dam
by ok_dad 4y ago
Can a browser just be a fucking browser? Every stupid fucking feature they cram in is yet another security issue waiting to explode in our face. Just make a damn browser and let us figure out how to "follow creators".
- racl101 4y agoDo Brave or Firefox do this?
- hulitu 4y agoFirefox no.
- kokanee 4y agoBrave does an enormous about of non-browser "stuff." Video calls, offline playlists, customizable news feeds, crypto wallet... they are trying to build a "super app" rather than a browser. The idea is that you can trust them because they aren't FAANG, but the problem is that if they actually were to succeed then they would be FAANG. I haven't used Firefox in ages but AFAIK it has very little bloatware. The problem, from the perspective of a web dev, is that it has quite a few rendering quirks/bugs. These days chromium sets the standard for the "correct" way to render things.
- circuit10 4y agoI use Firefox and do some web development on it sometimes and I don’t really notice many/any bugs either with 3rd party sites or ones I’m making, apart from things that are unsupported on purpose like the file access API Though I have noticed some issues in Teams but that’s about it
- alanwreath 4y agoBrave may do all that you touched on - but it also aggressively blocks tracking. And the added stuff is not pushed in your face - blocking tracking is though.
- princevegeta89 4y agoFirefox has some foundational bugs, one of which was not being able to keep my bitwarden session in the extension in Private Windows.
- kencausey 4y agoHave you checked the settings for the extension in about:addons to ensure that the extension is enabled for private mode? Find the extension in the list, click on it or click the dots and click 'manage', on the details tab ensure that 'Run in Private Windows' is enabled. I apologize if you are already well aware of this and that the problem is that is more complex than that.
- princevegeta89 4y agoNo need to apologize! Yeah it is actually quite different from what you have mentioned. Actually I did some Googling around, and found that it was fixed recently - after 4+ years lol. https://www.ghacks.net/2022/02/28/bitwarden-firefox-private-window-support/ https://www.ghacks.net/2022/02/28/bitwarden-firefox-private-...
- isanjay112 4y agoFirefox does not if you opt out of telemetry
- skrowl 4y agoIn case anyone was wondering how, it's pretty straight forward: Hamburger Menu > Settings Privacy & Security tab on the left Scroll down to the Firefox Data Collection and Use section (2nd section from bottom) Uncheck all of the boxes in this section
- cmeacham98 4y agoFYI: You might be shadowbanned. A lot of your recent comments are marked as dead, without seeming low quality enough to get flags (including this one, which I just vouched for). What's weird is that some of your comments aren't dead, and typically shadowbanned users have all of their comments auto-marked as dead. It's possible those got vouches though.
- skrowl 4y ago[dead]
- eastbound 4y agoFirefox nags about getting a Mozilla account, uploading your history to Mozilla servers tagged with your email. Very private. Mozilla’s only step towards privacy is that it opens tabs all the time telling you how much Big Browser care about your privacy. And don’t get me started on Firefox nagging people to use Mozilla VPN, and their push towards DNS over HTTPS, as in “Trust me dude, I want your logins, your passwords, your DNS and your VPN, and pinky swear I’m just a charity with benevolent intentions, Google just gives us money for… stuff.”
- dotancohen 4y agoAs a Firefox user I have no idea what you are talking about.
- fafqg 4y agoA browser costs a shitton of money to make. Even if you are just forking you need a lot of manpower. So no, you will never get a completely free browser that doesn't suck (slow, late to get security updates, can't render things right...)
- uni_rule 4y agoModern Edge isn't a ground-up browser, it's just a fork of Chromium with Microsoft bullshit instead of Google bullshit.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoI think you are supporting his point.
- bonney_io 4y ago(Mac user here) This is exactly why I use and love Safari.
- withinboredom 4y agoDeleted because it was protected by an NDA.
- latexr 4y agoCould you expand on that? Considering how Apple positions itself in terms of privacy, that’s a huge claim. You don’t have to name names if that’s a problem, but there should at least be something credible we can look into.
- skrowl 4y ago[dead]
- radicaldreamer 4y agoSource? Is this Google Safe Browsing related or auto-completing search queries? Pretty explosive allegation imo.
- CamelRocketFish 4y agoWhat was the allegation?
- stefncb 4y agoI assume GP regretted sharing it, so maybe you shouldn't?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- kokanee 4y agoMac user and web dev here - I appreciate a lot of things about the philosophy behind Safari, but I've lost untold hours to debugging and working around inane Safari bugs. It is truly the modern equivalent of IE for front end devs. It also makes my blood boil that Safari both hides the full path of the URL you're currently visiting and doesn't implement the standard practice of giving you a preview of the full URL you're about to visit when you hover over a link. These are horrible choices for usability and security, especially at a time when phishing is so productive.
- throw_m239339 4y agoSeriously, EDGE has tons of useless stuff, so much you have to scroll the "..." menu in order to get the the freaking settings, and now a popup is asking me to enable some VPN or something? I didn't ask for a VPN, nor some coupons, nor Microsoft rewards, nor games, it's bloat...
- flkiwi 4y agoNor that horrific "Discover" button that looks like a dollar store logo (which is probably not an accident).
- wvenable 4y agoBrowsers could just be browsers if people paid for them. But they don't. If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
- comte7092 4y agoEven paid products do this kind of stuff these days. At the end of the day, only legal requirements are going to curtail this type of behavior.
- MathMonkeyMan 4y ago> If you're not paying for the product, you are the product. > Even paid products do this kind of stuff these days. Yes, if you pay for the product, then not only are you still the product, but you're a sucker as well. It's not quite that stark, but I don't see why a company would truly change its business model just because they charge a fee. It's too tempting to "do something with all this data," i.e. treat all consumer software as spyware.
- Spivak 4y agoI wish this phrase would die. You're the product either way. Company is either going to take advantage of the revenue stream or not regardless of whether you also pay for it. "You're always the product and willingness and ability to pay for a nonessential service makes your disposable income an even juicer target to advertisers."
- ok_dad 4y agoShow me a browser I can pay for that isn't full of bloatware crap and I'll pay for it. I've spent $15 this week alone on software, some of it I just donated money because it was useful once. I am the wrong commenter here to be telling "you're not paying", because I literally pay for all/most of the services and software I use, though I do understand I'm an outlier to some degree.
- password4321 4y agohttps://www.patreon.com/posts/ladybird-truly-68649206 https://www.patreon.com/posts/ladybird-truly-68649206
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- MR4D 4y agoDumb question, but why don't people[1] use Chromium instead of Chrome (or Edge)? Does it still send data to Google? [1] - I'm presuming HN people, not moms & dads.
- encryptluks2 4y ago[dead]
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- flkiwi 4y agoEdge's vertical tabs are game changing, exceptionally useful and well-executed. No combination of browser extensions comes close (for me). That's literally the only reason I use Edge. I want someone to release an "Edgium" like vscodium or, alternately, implement Edge's vertical tabs in Chromium.
- ryukafalz 4y agoThis looks basically like Tree Style Tab for Firefox only without the nesting of related tabs.
- withinboredom 4y agoWhen you add "groups" (e.g., folders) it is magical.
- flkiwi 4y agoTST is great, but it's nothing like Edge vertical tabs, which contain exactly the right amount of functionality for zero friction use. I have tried to get the same effect in Firefox, Vivaldi, pretty much anything that isn't Edge, but I keep coming back to Edge because it is so central to how I use the browser at a basic interaction level and, simultaneously, so simple to use that I can put up with (and deactivate) the other annoyances.
- Foomf 4y ago
- vrc 4y agoYou won’t pay enough for it to make sense to support. That’s the harsh reality. Every single ‘altruistic’ browser has ended up on the dole of adtech because consumers will not pay even $0.01/pageview and publishers believe they’re worth $0.10-$1.00 per PV. I worked with an amazing founding team at Google and launched this [0] across many sites across the internet. People able to pay enough to fund the open web don’t, and people willing to pay realize that it gets pricey, fast. [0] https://blog.google/technology/ads/helping-publishers-recover-lost-revenue-ad-blocking/amp/ https://blog.google/technology/ads/helping-publishers-recove...
- jrockway 4y agoThe main thing to come out of that was ad blocker blocker blockers, which seem to work quite well.
- nr2x 4y agoGive us a break, nobody has done more to ruin journalism that Google manipulating ad auctions (bernake), rewarding click bait (doubleclick), and forcing small papers serving local markets to compete for search placement with massive companies like the NYT. Google helping with “Adblock” is a farce considering research has shown a key reason people use as blockers is to protect their privacy…from Google.
- PokestarFan 4y agoImma be honest I don't care about privacy as much as I care about having to actively go out of my way to close an ad.
- nr2x 4y agoYes, that’s absolutely the primary driver, but the #2 reason for adoption is privacy and security concerns. Google still doesn’t understand this, hence the farce that is “Privacy Sandbox” which is utterly delusional.
- rhaway84773 4y agoI don’t understand what internet users not willing to pay for published content has to do with creating a browser that’s just a browser. Like Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla did for a long time.
- spacemadness 4y agoCan an operating system just be an operating system and not force ads into its user interface? Microsoft has already answered this as a NO, so I guess we already know the answer to your question from Microsoft’s perspective.
- whateveracct 4y agoLinux (NixOS) working fine without ads here :)
- mwsfc 4y agoI'm saying this with extreme snark, but wait until smart homes become more commonplace and you won't be able to walk past your thermostat without Amazon pitching you new filters every six weeks over the smart speakers. Yes, there's many if's there, but the point is mostly profit motive usually trumps good taste. Re: Windows, if we're not paying for it anymore are we still the customer? Even if that's a yes, it represents a cost for msft, so they seem to be looking to extract any amount of value out of it that they can. I doubt I'll use it past Win10, the downsides just keep piling up.
- spacemadness 4y agoWindows is not free. It may come pre-installed on a ready made build, but they purchased a license, and you must purchase a license for a custom PC.
- soraminazuki 4y agoWindows costs nearly $200. If only that counted as paying. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/windows-11-pro/dg7gmgf0d8h4 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/windows-11-pro/dg7gmgf0d8h...
- beebmam 4y agoYes, use lynx
- z3t4 4y agoI think we should have 3 security levels in the browser: Level 1) Static content, no scripting allowed 2) Scripting allowed (like the current state but more restricted) Level 3) App like where you can allow the app to access certain resources. The TSL shield/lock could have a number in it 1-3 where 1 is the highest level of security. And you have to manually click it to go to level 2 or level 3. Sites would have to use the noscript tag to beg users to enable scripting abilities. Most websites that are not app-like should consider rendering their content statically. Browsers would start out with level 2 as default, but like what has happened with web sites without https/TSL/SSL they would be "shamed" by the lock/shield icon. Unless the site has a security-level 1 header, then the site should load with highest security.
- princevegeta89 4y agoThere's nothing less to expect from these fucking commercial browsers from giant companies. For the last 5 years+, I've been steadily noticing how they start small and "innocent", and once they reach a userbase, they will keep coming with shit baked in hard that will leak you to the world, invade you on your face, become a spy in your digital life, or just completely entangle you and make you a product of their open market.
- kornhole 4y agoDo not invest too much in any browser. This will make it easy to hop when they go to shit. Avoid using anything sticky such as password saving, bookmarks, and synchronization. Instead use other tools you control for that. We have so many browsers to choose from. I can adopt a new browser within minutes because of my setup. The same principle should be applied to any proprietary software or platform.
- tenebrisalietum 4y agoDone. You need a protocol where it's impossible to not be a browser. https://gemini.circumlunar.space/ https://gemini.circumlunar.space/ Pick your browser, I like Lagrange. https://gemini.circumlunar.space/software/ https://gemini.circumlunar.space/software/ Now we just need content.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]