Google Chrome will limit ad blockers starting June 2024::The “Manifest V3” rollout is back after letting tensions cool for a year.

  • enkers
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    2407 months ago

    Firefox users who never left: feeling of smugness intensifies

    • @[email protected]
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      597 months ago

      I try not to express or show it though. Only good vibes to bring everyone over to Firefox.

    • @[email protected]
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      477 months ago

      I must admit I ditched Firefox for a while when it was considerably slower than Chrome.

      feelsbadman.

      • enkers
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        97 months ago

        Welcome back. <3

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏
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        47 months ago

        The last time I used Chrome was a fork called Rockmelt 🥴 then moved to Maxthon, then K-Meleon, and settled on Firefox

        • eric
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          27 months ago

          Rockmelt is a fork of Chromium, not a fork of Chrome. Same with Maxthon. Both Chromium and Chrome are maintained by Google, but Chromium is open-sourced while Chrome is not.

          • Praise Idleness
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            47 months ago

            Chromium is opensource yes. But it’s still harmful to the internet as a whole. There are still stupid ass google shit.

            • eric
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              7 months ago

              Agreed. I didn’t mean to imply chromium is a good thing, which is why I said it is maintained by Google. Lots of browsers are forks of Chromium, even Microsoft Edge, but I thought they were implying these browsers were illegal forks hacked from Chrome, so I looked them up and found they’re just more chromium forks.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 months ago

        I’m ashamed to say I did the same and even converted quite a few non-tech savvy people as well. :(

      • enkers
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        7 months ago

        The trick is to never let your smugness show, then you can be smug about your humility as well. *sniff* Ahhhh…

    • @[email protected]
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      37 months ago

      Same as reddit to lemmy story for me. Moving mobile browser from kiwi(chrome fork) to Firefox nightly. Already a Firefox user in pc.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      I wish it was for me, but Chrome is necessary for some work I do.

      Edit: very weird I get so many downvotes because I need to use a specific browser. Get out more, please.

        • Captain Poofter
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          187 months ago

          I was doing some work on the social security site and the site i needed wouldn’t even load unless it was chrome or edge. There are sadly too many important website that are somehow allowed to gatekeep browsers. I feel like if their site follows guidelines then there’s no reason they should be restricted from browsers, but here we are.

        • @[email protected]
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          107 months ago

          Platforms I use don’t work reliably with other browsers, online teaching ones to be specific.

          • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏
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            77 months ago

            Ah, that’s a tough one.

            I needed to install Ungoogled Chromium to join lectures, because the remote learning site refused to work in Firefox (wouldn’t be surprised if it was developed against a chrome-specific API)

        • @[email protected]
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          -17 months ago

          Pretty much every internal Web application I’ve used in banking, insurance and Govt orgs.

          • enkers
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            7 months ago

            Most of the time the site doesn’t really need chrome, it’s just that’s all they test it with, so they say it’s a requirement.

            There’s an addon for Firefox called User-Agent Switcher and Manager that allows you to have Firefox identify itself to websites as chrome (among others), and it often fixes the problem.

            • @[email protected]
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              7 months ago

              I work in IT so I am aware of this. Maybe you’ve not worked in enough places that just build incompatible (cr)apps?

              And sure, just go outside our locked down machine policies and install Firefox and unapproved extensions. That will do down well.

              • enkers
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                7 months ago

                Yeah, “most” was probably a bit hyperbolic, especially for internal websites, and I guess it’s no surprise that the sectors you mentioned would be particularly bad for it.

                The best place for my little PSA probably wasn’t in response to your post in particular.

                • @[email protected]
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                  7 months ago

                  Sorry I’m snippy as I have personal stuff going on. You are right in so far as if you have full control of your machine which isn’t the case for the orgs I mentioned.

                  We can pull FF into our dev environment so I’ve seen these annoying behaviours.

      • enkers
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        7 months ago

        Edit: …

        Yeah, I get “Google bad”, and agree, and am 100% on the Firefox train, but downvoting people for not using FF is kinda stinky.

      • gian
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        67 months ago

        Have you tried to spoof the user agent ?

    • @Winnem
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      -97 months ago

      I’ve tried switching so many times, most recently yesterday. Every time something just doesnt work or is missing. Yesterday it was stremios web client that refused to show the video that I was simultaneously watching in chrome.

      And the fact that Firefox doesnt do tab groups. Such a convenient feature for me, and I couldnt find an extension that did the job. Maybe some of you can help?

      • @[email protected]
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        67 months ago

        Absolutely agree on the tab groups. I don’t get how this is not implemented yet, it’s a basic feature with great impact to usability.

        • @[email protected]
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          7 months ago

          Firefox actually had tab groups way back, but Mozilla, in their infinite wisdom, removed it because apparently their main mission now is to antagonize all their loyal power users.

          • @[email protected]
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            17 months ago

            Right now there’s no built in options and it could just be deactivated.

            Also the add ins I’ve seen still lack chrome’s feature of auto grouping. They just allow me to manually group.

        • @Winnem
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          17 months ago

          No amount of refreshing or clearing cookies and cache has helped so far. It just says “video not supported” no matter which file I try to play.

          • @[email protected]
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            17 months ago

            What are you trying to play ? Probably should contact mods. Would be good for them to know. Others will have similar problems.

            Do you have add one ? I need to turn off dark mode for some sites as it breaks it. Those are the only issues I’ve had.

            • @Winnem
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              17 months ago

              It is probably a very specific issue, since I can’t find anyone else that has it, at least not doing the usual google-fu.

              When using the Stremio web client, firefox refuses to play anything I throw at it, whereas everything plays fine in the chromium browsers I’ve tried.

              No amount of turning extensions off or clearing cache or cookies or refreshing has fixed it so far.

              • @[email protected]
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                17 months ago

                Fire through the link and maybe folk can check it out. I know GeForce now doesn’t work on Firefox and steam doesn’t play nice.

        • @Winnem
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          37 months ago

          Which extension are you using?

    • @[email protected]
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      297 months ago

      How long until Google starts paying sites to require chrome? The already tried rolling that concept out a few months ago. They only stopped because of the backlash that was publicly associated with it. They already pay major phone manufacturers to have google as their default or only search option.

      So who’s going to stop them when we start finding that major popular sites suddenly don’t work on firefox?

      • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️
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        137 months ago

        People could start configuring their sites to ban Google Chrome. Give a scary message that says something like “Google Chrome is not allowed on this site for your protection. Google Chrome has severe vulnerabilities that allow for easy infection. An autistic teenager was falsely convicted of selling CP after being infected and now must register for life.”

        People would switch away from Google Chrome incredibly fast if website owners started posting that.

        • @[email protected]
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          117 months ago

          I like the way you think, but that sounds like a lawsuit with one of the richest companies on the planet behind the prosecution. Could work for sites based outside of US jurisdiction.

          • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️
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            67 months ago

            They can’t sue millions of people.

            It could also be made very hard for them to win. All someone has to do is make a site making that claim and their ability to win will be gone. Any defendant can claim they read that site.

            • @[email protected]
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              67 months ago

              They don’t sue millions of people. They sue one person and make an example out of them and the chilling effect does the rest. That’s how this kind of thing goes.

              • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️
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                17 months ago

                That’s only if everyone else complies.

                Plenty of organizations would likely jump in. Someone could make a site alleging the bad thing that happened as the result of Google Chrome and that pretty much tanks the entire case. It would be very hard to prove reckless disregard for the truth when there’s a website that alleges the claim. Furthermore, someone could simply write the code and distribute it, and every site displaying it would have grounds for displaying it.

                All someone really has to do is find one thing that could potentially be a vulnerability in Google Chrome and they have grounds for making a scary notice about it.

            • @Croquette
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              137 months ago

              As it is customary, companies drop bomb shells to gauge their user base reaction. They pull back if the reaction is too strong and slowly reintroduce it piece by piece when the things have cooled down a bit.

              The moment they announced their intention to DRM the web meant that they will try to push however they can.

            • @[email protected]
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              47 months ago

              With something like that, it’s usually just rebranded and pushed out after backlash calms down.

        • Cethin
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          27 months ago

          I think there are more reliable ways to identify your browser. The user-agent is self reported, so not reliable. It’s just the simplest option that’s usually good enough unless you’re doing something malicious.

      • @[email protected]
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        67 months ago

        They won’t pay them it will be smarter than that. Possibly with proprietary APIs that only work on chrome etc. some sites already don’t work on Firefox.

        They’ll also further enshitifiy their own services on non chrome browsers.

      • @[email protected]
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        47 months ago

        Then we’ll develop add-ons that make the sites pretend Firefox is Chrome. It may not be perfect for a while, but it’ll still block ads.

      • @[email protected]
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        37 months ago

        Sounds like they will create a non-corporate version of the internet by accident. Sound good to me, but I feel like it won’t fly in EU to well.

  • ColorcodedResistor
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    537 months ago

    title as it should be: ‘google did not die a hero, it instead lived long enough to become the villain.’

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      I just can’t get used to Firefox. Last time I tried it (earlier this year), I tried for 2 months. Can’t remember all the reasons, but using the adresbar as calculator and see the results without pressing enter is so ingrained in my way of working. Just alt+d, 2+2 shows the result. Give me something better than that and I’ll give Firefox an other shot.

      Edit: lol at my downvotes. That’s what I get for asking a genuine question I guess. People really looove their Firefox here. (me too, but I’m missing some features)

  • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️
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    487 months ago

    They’re going to burn their own browser. If they stop allowing adblockers, a lot of people are just going to change browsers.

    • @[email protected]
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      77 months ago

      I would love to see this happen but I suspect that the number of users who actually install ad blocker extensions and are willing to switch to a new browser once they stop working is fairly insignificant compared to the total numbers of people browsing in Chrome.

      • @[email protected]
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        47 months ago

        Agree, i have rarely seen people who actually use adblock outside my work. I had to practically tie up my entire family, in-laws included to get ublock installed on all their computers.

      • Corhen
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        97 months ago

        Weird do you have a screen shot you can share? they look fine to me.

        Could it be something withyour windows installation?

        • @[email protected]
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          37 months ago

          Here is a picture that demonstrates the problem. On the left is Firefox and on the right Thorium (Chromium). I’ve had this problem on Windows before but now I’m using Linux and it’s the same unfortunately.

            • Cosmic Cleric
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              7 months ago

              Using DuckDuckGo (Android), which is chromium-based, it has the same problem, all text weights are bolded at the maximum values.

              It looks like Firefox is trying to be more respectful of the text weights, when deciding how to bold text.

          • Cosmic Cleric
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            07 months ago

            Here is a picture that demonstrates the problem. On the left is Firefox and on the right Thorium (Chromium).

            If I’m understanding that screenshot correctly, it looks like Thorium (Chromium) is ignoring the text values and bolding any of them at the max bolding value, where Firefox respects the text values and bolts off of that just slightly.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 months ago

        I did have a strange issue with that in the past, but not any more.

        I think it went away after going through the Windows ClearType gubbins again.

        • JackbyDev
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          17 months ago

          Oh god, that menu is the worst shit. I literally downloaded an open source program to tweak it.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 months ago

          I remember trying this as well but it didn’t help, and the problem also exists on Linux

      • Cosmic Cleric
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        17 months ago

        It’s been forever since I last looked, but can’t you actually change what fonts are used from within Firefox directly?

  • @[email protected]
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    307 months ago

    Never thought this would be the thing that drove me to degoogled myself, but here we are. I put myself back in an apple silo purely out of spite. Converted all my gmails to other services, like hey.com and tutanota, I PAY a search engine now Kagi.com.

    They really burned my soul. Fuck Google.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        I’ve done Linux desktops, and I fight with them too much. Macos is fine by me. Mad respect for Linux users though.

        Non android Linux phones just don’t feel ready.

        Comfy leashes I guess.

      • @[email protected]
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        147 months ago

        I see so many of these comments I can’t help but wonder if it’s an ad campaign by Kagi.

        • @ScreaminOctopus
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          87 months ago

          Pretty sure it is, I ended up trying the free trial because of all the yapping. Don’t bother. 99% of the results are the same as ddg.

          • @[email protected]
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            77 months ago

            +1 for ddg, it does everything needed from a search engine without the extra crap, and even if you don’t turn off ads, they’re reasonable and unobtrusive (and they let you turn them off very easily)

        • Draconic NEO
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          17 months ago

          It very likely is an Astroturfing campaign to try and get more users.

            • Draconic NEO
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              17 months ago

              Lemmy is a poor choice for astroturfing, not because of small user count but because no one here is going to hesitate from removing their content or banning them from the site. On regular social media you can act like a shill and get downvoted and hated on, but here the punishments are actually handed out, and even if their home instance doesn’t ban them others likely will, effectively crippling said campaign.

              These campaigns work on social media services that will protect them due to corporate interest, something that basically doesn’t happen here.

      • @Chakravanti
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        27 months ago

        I’ll take your word for it. I discarded that notion years ago.

      • @[email protected]
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        107 months ago

        Eh, when Chrome first came out, Firefox was incredibly clunky and slow in comparison.

        At least it was for me, which was why I switched back then.

        Google’s YouTube shenanigans earlier this year got me back to Firefox though, and the more Google does crap like this the more I’m thinking my next phone may take me back to the Appleverse.

            • @[email protected]
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              37 months ago

              To put it simply, a “custom ROM” in this context means a modified version of Android. Many of these versions are based on AOSP (Android Open-Source Project), which is still maintained by Google, but is in fact open-source and doesn’t include Google services. Therefore, there is a possibility to use Android phones (given you have one with unlockable bootloader) without any Google apps or account.

              • @[email protected]
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                17 months ago

                I guess I am just past the time where I enjoy…or even am willing to…delve into the way my devices work, run non standard stuff on them, or have some unique setup on them.

                I don’t feel like my needs or desires are too awfully picky or niche at this point, I just don’t want my shit to be actively fighting me in day to day function.

                When I got my first smart phone, I went Android for the increased options to customize and more hardware and app options.

                As time went on, I got to a point where the hardware all sucked compared to iPhone, couldn’t find a phone I liked that did all the things as well as an iPhone, so I switched, trading customize-ability for function.

                While that was a trade that worked, I still missed Android as I found the iPhone trying to constantly force me to do things a certain way. And when I went looking for ways to change that, most of the apple community basically said, “If you don’t want to do things the apple way, you’re the one that’s wrong and needs to change”

                So after that one, I came right back to Android.

                My last phone was pretty good but this one has so many quirks and hardware issues that just the experience of using the phone frustrates me and I’ve only had it a few months.

                Not seeing anything else I like on the market, my options seem to be annoyance with hardware, annoyance with software, or annoyance with hardware and fuss with installing non typical software.

                • @[email protected]
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                  17 months ago

                  I get it, I have a similar situation, except since I came back to Android I have been nothing but happy.

                  I used to be into running custom stuff on Android before my switch to an iPhone. And I, too, have found it frustrating to be forced to respect Apple’s rules.

                  Now, however, I have a Pixel 7 and it’s been a perfect experience so far. Running the stock OS non-rooted, it finally feels like my phone.

        • Corhen
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          17 months ago

          Yea, i swapped to chrome when it was on the rise, and it was subsantially faster than firefox.

          These days i find firefox as fast, or faster.

          • @[email protected]
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            27 months ago

            Yeah I honestly expected some growing pains with the switch but it was a lot smoother than I expected.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 months ago

          Trust me, if you care about what’s happening to Google and YouTube right now, you won’t love what has been happening to Apple and it’s products for the last decade or so.