Sure. It could still be worth checking a fresh profile and installing those two extensions - it could still be faster.

One thing you’ll often see is that “new” browsers - i.e. with no browser history, extensions, etc. - perform better than one you’ve been using for a while. Thus, when people switch browsers, the new one tends to feel faster, regardless of what you’re switching to.

Possibly, Firefox feels just as fast after a refresh. Alternatively, a fresh profile using the new profile manager might do the same.

On the other hand, it could also be that that specific site has just been tested and optimised in Chrome, with Firefox mostly ignored because too few people use it :(

Wayland-only even, but still affects many people of course. Important from that thread:

a workaround that doesn’t require restart is dragging a tab around.

I think (hope?) I’ve praised their work elsewhere on other accounts, but no harm in doing it some more: @TheEvilSkeleton@treehouse.systems has been doing heroic work on accessibility (and also a quick shoutout to @nekohayo@mastodon.social for highlighting such work, and for their own contributions).

Unfortunately the accessibility situation can make it hard for people with disabilities to contribute, but I’ll also note that it’s very hard for people without disabilities to understand, let alone fix, issues with accessibility. So extra props for that.

I’ll be sharing this article in the future when I see people trash talking. Hopefully it’ll make them reconsider.

This seems very fair. GNOME developers owe nobody anything of course, so if someone wants to rip out parts/functionality and replace it with someone else, that’s both their prerogative and responsibility, but it’s friendly and helpful to give advance warning and clear pointers on what to look out for.

I expect that Fakespot already had problems funding themselves, and thus they were a relatively cheap acquisition, and now it turned out they couldn’t cover their own costs as part of Mozilla either. But I’ve never used it so I have no idea.

Again? She just joined like two years ago.

So what I think -but again, not a lawyer- is that the previous version also didn’t grant Mozilla ownership of your data. For example, maybe there was already a legal limit to what rights the ToS can transfer to Mozilla, and the new version just re-iterates the existing law?

Well, it will always be there as long as Firefox is also there.

The post sounds like it the initial terms weren’t thought to be broader than the current ones, but that that apparently wasn’t clear when they were read by regular people. As a non-lawyer, it seems entirely possible to me that the legal ramifications of both versions are the same, as often things that will read one way to me, turn out to actually mean more specific things in a legal context.

Could some savvy code-reader go through it to see if something about the data collection has changed?

Yeah, I think it’s telling that it’s been a while now and nobody has pointed to any suspicious code.

That’s the kind of thing that sounds nice, but in practice I don’t think that’s what evidence points towards.

That is true, but all that wouldn’t be able to survive if Mozilla were to significantly scale back development.

I don’t see how being a non-profit suddenly makes it cheaper to build a secure, modern and compatible browser. (Although I know lots of people underestimate how much effort that takes. But just consider that already Mozilla’s doing it for far less money than Google invests in Chrome, for example.)

I fail to understand how they haven’t figured out a way out of this seems to me they’re using all the money they from Google as if there is no tomorrow… Why on earth also if Firefox is so clearly their main product does it seem to not always be at the centre of their attention?

The answer to the second question is the answer to the first - there have been a ton of attempts at alternative sources of funding, but it’s hard to come close to the ~half a billion USD the default search deal provides. So far the branded services you’re calling for don’t seem to have been able to pull it off, and I haven’t seen any signs that donations would be able to either.

(Although as for email with Thunderbird…)

I think you’re grossly overestimating the share of volunteer contributions if you think it might even be over half. It’s amazing what contributors do, but the vast majority, and especially thankless-but-important work like web compatibility or security, is done by paid staff.

Thanks MacStadium!

Ah OK, so it just feels like Windows Recall if we assume it’s going to become Windows Recall in the future…

In this previous post Tobias wrote:

As I’ve already announced internally, I’m stepping down from putting together an STF application for this year. For inquiries about the 2025 application, please contact @AdrianVovk@fosstodon.org going forward.

Amazing list, thanks to the German taxpayers, and to Sonny and Tobias! Also amazing that they were able to find so many contractors.