Oh boy, another useless Mozilla project no one uses that eats up money that could have gone to actually making Firefox better. Then gets canceled in a year or two
Let's just start a campaign to donate funds to the core developers, on the condition they resign immediately and move to the LibreWolf project.
Get the people who really hold the reigns (the knowledge of how the code works!) and give them the power and an escape route to make user-friendly software.
There would need to be an ongoing fund set up, somehow, not beholden to Google or other big players.
I'd be willing to pay a few bucks a year, for the rest of my life, if I knew it would pay devs who maintained a user-friendly browser; surely there must be enough of us out there?
They already said it's opt-in. I'm not happy with the AI bullshit but can we stop pretending this is like Google, Microsoft and others forcing their bullshit.
I defended mozilla for the longest time. Trying to see the underlying motive for every dumb decision, challenging others to at least acknowledge their strategy.
This latest brain fart from the new CEO is the end of that though.
It's fine to keep defending them, but it would also be fine to acknowledge that mozilla is actively alienating Firefox' loyal following.
Of course they say it's opt-in right now and then later it will be opt-out. This is the standard bullshit reasoning that companies always give. Can you stop pretending that's not what's going to happen?
I don't care if it's opt-in over opt-out, I don't even care if it's an entirely optional thing that I could tell Firefox I don't want when I'm installing it, I do not want AI in my browser. I want my browser to load the pages I tell it to load when I tell it to load them and that's it
I mean it seems to me the opt-in part is when they say it will be opt-in by it potentially being a button on the toolbar. Though the dev acknowledges not everyone will see that as opt-in.
Ok, I genuinely might be reading this wrong and the other guy won't communicate, so:
The way I read that is "we will have a button that's there that you can click to activate an AI feature" (though it's unclear if that's actually what it'll be like when finalised). And yeah, I'd rather that was an extension or something I'd go and toggle on if I wanted. That said, I also don't consider that to be "on by default".
And before anyone misunderstands more, I hate the addition of AI in everything and don't think Firefox should do this. That's not the point I'm arguing.
So, I might be wrong on this, too... But I don't think it's too ambiguous.
Something that hasn't been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features.
We've been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I'm sure it'll ship with a less murderous name, but that's how seriously and absolutely we're taking this.
They have a button that turns stuff off. Not on. So for me, it's kind of clear that they're building an opt-out solution.
A digital painting illustration: A little Firefox mascot sits on a branch that he is cutting with a saw. He smiles at an AI cyber parrot that is bringing him a chainsaw.
Is there any good alternative to FF that is cross device compatible and keep my sessions between said devices, but without me having to press anything more than "Install" or to type "apt-get install firefox"?
I hear a lot of these newer open source friendly browser, but switching between my pc/notebook/phone/tablet, is a requirement. I'd love to find something that fit that so I could switch.
I mean there is Waterfox, which is avaible on desktop as well as on Android. There is also the Zen browser, which is amazing for Desktop. Both theese browsers are fully FOSS and have explicitly positioned themselves against AI (Statement from Waterfox and Statement from Zen). And the great thing is, basicly all Firefox forks can easily sync interoperably and end to end encrypted thanks to Firefox Sync, so you could use Zen Browser on the desktop and sync it with Waterfox on your phone.
Somehow my profile got deleted on my main computer on the day the AI news dropped which really made me annoyed. All I want is for them to stop moving where I want my tabs every time I fix it they break it. I want them where they were before they decided to be Chrome.
âEvery time I access the internet I use a browser that is starting to get shitty. I will draw a silly little cartoon to illustrate how I feel about it.â
Yes. Entirely too over dramatic. I guess people should just shut up and deal with the bullshit instead?
This would be true in a vacuum, but the quantity of posts about the subject has been significant, and it isn't the only cartoon I've seen someone draw specifically about Firefox.
Regardless, just don't interact with the AI stuff and you won't even know the difference.
On by default is exactly what forcing interaction looks like.
There are many effects regardless of whether or not you interact with the features directly.
Disagreeing vehemently doesn't make you correct.
Some of these things are on by default, that's the very definition of forcing an interaction, even if it's just to hunt through the settings to turn it off.
Regardless, just donât interact with the AI stuff and you wonât even know the difference.
It's so close to the same energy it's even parroting the same kind of "make absolute statements without understanding the realities of the subject" mindset.
Let's start with some basics.
At least some of these features are on by default so from the get go you are already being affected, even if it's just a minor annoyance.
You need go out of your way to turn them all off (and keep on top of new additions, again, some of which are on by default).
They are also regularly "reset" during upgrades
Assuming you're a regular user and don't religiously go turning all of these features off at the root, some of them will be part of interacting with the daily usage of the browser, incurring a performance cost.
Right click context actions are a good example of this, as is AI tab grouping and the planned Link Preview (though the latter currently needs a key press to activate)
Even if you never use the tab grouping, the analysis of what's needed to suggest things is still a performance cost, possible a non-trivial one.
Any new code or feature added to the browser contributes to bug and maintenance surface area, meaning resources used to develop, test and maintain that code.
This is resource not being used on other, non AI, bugs and features.
Project management is complicated so it isn't a one-to-one ratio of resources from one thing to another, but it's still a non-zero percentage.
Now for the slightly more esoteric
LLM's as a whole are provably bad for the environment, power grids and water supplies , that's both the running and the model generation
People might not care about this, but not caring doesn't negate negative impacts in this case.
Some might consider the tradeoff to be worth it, that's fine, still affected by it though.
I'm not arguing for or against LLM features (though for the record i'm not a fan of them being auto-included) i'm saying that your statement about not being affected if you don't use them is incorrect.
No way, lemmy needs to hear dissenting opinions. This place is too stuck in its One Thought⢠and Single Opinion⢠on many subjects.
It's also not the end of the world that a tech company is following tech trends. The browser isn't going to just keel over and die because lemmy doesn't like LLMs.
Well, if I think people are being silly for only thinking 'AI bad', I'm not gonna take the stance of 'AI good'. Don't think it belongs in any hard category.
I specifically use firefox to maintain a small shred of privacy online, any non-local AI is a gigantic privacy breach so for me this is making firefox shittier simply by being integrated into the browser.
70 Comments
Archer@lemmy.world · 120 pts · 257d
Oh boy, another useless Mozilla project no one uses that eats up money that could have gone to actually making Firefox better. Then gets canceled in a year or two
Piatro@programming.dev · 65 pts · 257d
We need a Mozilla equivalent to killedbygoogle.com.
Anafabula@discuss.tchncs.de · 67 pts · 257d
https://killedbymozilla.com/
Piatro@programming.dev · 29 pts · 257d
What's all this egg doing on my face?
krooklochurm@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 257d
They may have killed shumway but I'll never stop shumming
Arghblarg@lemmy.ca · 47 pts · 257d
Let's just start a campaign to donate funds to the core developers, on the condition they resign immediately and move to the LibreWolf project.
Get the people who really hold the reigns (the knowledge of how the code works!) and give them the power and an escape route to make user-friendly software.
zeca@lemmy.ml · 20 pts · 257d
How will these devs trust that this will be sustainable? They need to pay their bills.
Arghblarg@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 257d
There would need to be an ongoing fund set up, somehow, not beholden to Google or other big players.
I'd be willing to pay a few bucks a year, for the rest of my life, if I knew it would pay devs who maintained a user-friendly browser; surely there must be enough of us out there?
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 257d
what is it? a crossover episode with those Avian Intelligence webcomics?
brown567@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 257d
Sums up how I feel pretty well
hayvan@piefed.world · 15 pts · 257d
They already said it's opt-in. I'm not happy with the AI bullshit but can we stop pretending this is like Google, Microsoft and others forcing their bullshit.
dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de · 89 pts · 257d
They still spend a ton of resources on something that most users actively despise. Those resources will be missing elsewhere.
fizzle@quokk.au · 50 pts · 257d
It's ok buddy.
I defended mozilla for the longest time. Trying to see the underlying motive for every dumb decision, challenging others to at least acknowledge their strategy.
This latest brain fart from the new CEO is the end of that though.
It's fine to keep defending them, but it would also be fine to acknowledge that mozilla is actively alienating Firefox' loyal following.
fodor@lemmy.zip · 38 pts · 257d
Of course they say it's opt-in right now and then later it will be opt-out. This is the standard bullshit reasoning that companies always give. Can you stop pretending that's not what's going to happen?
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 29 pts · 257d
It's already opt-out right now
LuckingFurker@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 33 pts · 257d
I don't care if it's opt-in over opt-out, I don't even care if it's an entirely optional thing that I could tell Firefox I don't want when I'm installing it, I do not want AI in my browser. I want my browser to load the pages I tell it to load when I tell it to load them and that's it
FatVegan@leminal.space · 29 pts · 257d
What exactly does one get from defending stupid decisions of a company?
frunch@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 257d
Misplaced feeling of superiority?
trk@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 255d
I remember reading this article a decade and a half ago... It still holds up I reckon
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/05/19/fanboyism-and-brand-loyalty/
hayvan@piefed.world · -20 pts · 257d
If you read my comment as defending their stupid decisions, you need to repeat elementary school.
Janx@piefed.social · 6 pts · 257d
You... literally defended their stupid decisions. You can pretend words mean something else, I guess. đ¤ˇââď¸
three@lemmy.zip · -4 pts · 257d
Aww, it's even dumber than we thought
eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 19 pts · 257d
But it's not opt-in, it's in by default
LupertEverett@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 257d
Since when a kill switch means "opt-in"???
You are falling for their bullshit.
Wimopy@feddit.uk · -10 pts · 257d
I mean it seems to me the opt-in part is when they say it will be opt-in by it potentially being a button on the toolbar. Though the dev acknowledges not everyone will see that as opt-in.
Source: https://mastodon.social/@firefoxwebdevs/115740500373677782
I can understand why people have issues with that, but let's at least keep criticisms to what they've actually said?
Asetru@feddit.org · 30 pts · 257d
"That feature will be opt-in. In the sense that it's on by default and you can opt-out with a button. Not everyone will see this as opt-in."
Yeah, no shit. Because that's not opt-in, that's opt-out. Pulling shit like that already makes me distrust their communication.
Wimopy@feddit.uk · -3 pts · 257d
Ok, I genuinely might be reading this wrong and the other guy won't communicate, so:
The way I read that is "we will have a button that's there that you can click to activate an AI feature" (though it's unclear if that's actually what it'll be like when finalised). And yeah, I'd rather that was an extension or something I'd go and toggle on if I wanted. That said, I also don't consider that to be "on by default".
And before anyone misunderstands more, I hate the addition of AI in everything and don't think Firefox should do this. That's not the point I'm arguing.
Asetru@feddit.org · 15 pts · 257d
So, I might be wrong on this, too... But I don't think it's too ambiguous.
They have a button that turns stuff off. Not on. So for me, it's kind of clear that they're building an opt-out solution.
LupertEverett@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 257d
If a feature needs a button to disable it, it IS opt-out, not opt-in.
You too are falling for their bullshit, as well as to my blocklist.
plonk
neukenindekeuken@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 257d
Already swapped to waterfox. Am happier for it
eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 257d
Ditto
macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 257d
Mozilla is not a Registered Nurse.
roguetrick@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 256d
Might've taken the NCLEX. Did you do a license search?
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 256d
LET ME CLICK THE ALT TEXT YOU FUCKERS
BunScientist@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 256d
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 256d
đ
Cabbage_Pout61@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 257d
Is there any good alternative to FF that is cross device compatible and keep my sessions between said devices, but without me having to press anything more than "Install" or to type "apt-get install firefox"?
I hear a lot of these newer open source friendly browser, but switching between my pc/notebook/phone/tablet, is a requirement. I'd love to find something that fit that so I could switch.
BennyTheExplorer@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 257d
I mean there is Waterfox, which is avaible on desktop as well as on Android. There is also the Zen browser, which is amazing for Desktop. Both theese browsers are fully FOSS and have explicitly positioned themselves against AI (Statement from Waterfox and Statement from Zen). And the great thing is, basicly all Firefox forks can easily sync interoperably and end to end encrypted thanks to Firefox Sync, so you could use Zen Browser on the desktop and sync it with Waterfox on your phone.
Cabbage_Pout61@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 257d
Wow, I didn't know they used my Mozilla account for syncing.
If that's true, then I can sync my existing data from Firefox to Waterfox
BennyTheExplorer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 257d
Jup, that should work
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 255d
Why waterfox not on F-Droid? Preposterous! I need it and don't have play services installed.
BennyTheExplorer@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 255d
Yeah, that sucks. But there still is Aurora Store , where you can get it
5in1k@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 257d
Somehow my profile got deleted on my main computer on the day the AI news dropped which really made me annoyed. All I want is for them to stop moving where I want my tabs every time I fix it they break it. I want them where they were before they decided to be Chrome.
Digit@lemmy.wtf · -34 pts · 257d
Ironically, image generated by AI.
(I'm just presuming, at a glance.)
zener_diode@feddit.org · 49 pts · 257d
Nope, David Revoy does a lot of comics in this art style, and the Avian Intelligence parrot has been a recurring character in the last few.
I can also really recommend his comic series Pepper & Carrot, it has some very cool worldbuilding.
io@piefed.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 257d
the robot parot in the post is their usual representation of AI which is really smart and funny symbolism imo
Digit@lemmy.wtf · 14 pts · 257d
Ah, so the AI image generators copied his style.
zloubida@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 257d
It's absolutely not.
BunScientist@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 256d
https://framapiaf.org/@davidrevoy/115752750771935334
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -39 pts · 257d
Has anyone told all of you that you're a little over dramatic over minor problems?
athatet@lemmy.zip · 23 pts · 257d
âEvery time I access the internet I use a browser that is starting to get shitty. I will draw a silly little cartoon to illustrate how I feel about it.â
Yes. Entirely too over dramatic. I guess people should just shut up and deal with the bullshit instead?
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -18 pts · 257d
This would be true in a vacuum, but the quantity of posts about the subject has been significant, and it isn't the only cartoon I've seen someone draw specifically about Firefox.
Regardless, just don't interact with the AI stuff and you won't even know the difference.
athatet@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 257d
Youâre seeing a lot of it because lots of people use the browser and lots of people are upset that itâs getting shitty.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -12 pts · 257d
No, I'm seeing it a lot because lemmy's only opinion is "ai bad" and Mozilla just announced adding more optional AI features to their browser.
underisk@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 257d
Youâre seeing âai badâ a lot because itâs the correct opinion. Sorry you havenât caught up yet.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -8 pts · 257d
Ah yes, the GroupThinkâ˘
underisk@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 256d
pesky groups, always "thinking". why cant they just agree with me? i bet they all get together and conspire to discredit me, personally.
Senal@programming.dev · 3 pts · 257d
Same energy
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -8 pts · 257d
Hard disagree. In no way are you being forced to interact with any of this.
Senal@programming.dev · 3 pts · 257d
TL;DR;
On by default is exactly what forcing interaction looks like.
There are many effects regardless of whether or not you interact with the features directly.
Disagreeing vehemently doesn't make you correct.
Some of these things are on by default, that's the very definition of forcing an interaction, even if it's just to hunt through the settings to turn it off.
It's so close to the same energy it's even parroting the same kind of "make absolute statements without understanding the realities of the subject" mindset.
Let's start with some basics.
Now for the slightly more esoteric
I'm not arguing for or against LLM features (though for the record i'm not a fan of them being auto-included) i'm saying that your statement about not being affected if you don't use them is incorrect.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -3 pts · 256d
Remember what I said about being over dramatic?
Senal@programming.dev · 4 pts · 256d
If you look at a bullet point list and see drama I think I can safely ignore your threshold for "drama".
optissima@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 257d
Has anyone ever told you to not say anything if you dont have anything positive to say? Just block them.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -6 pts · 257d
No way, lemmy needs to hear dissenting opinions. This place is too stuck in its One Thought⢠and Single Opinion⢠on many subjects.
It's also not the end of the world that a tech company is following tech trends. The browser isn't going to just keel over and die because lemmy doesn't like LLMs.
optissima@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 257d
"You're over dramatic" is not a dissenting opinion, that's unrelated to the topic. You've got to say "AI good" for that.
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -1 pts · 257d
Well, if I think people are being silly for only thinking 'AI bad', I'm not gonna take the stance of 'AI good'. Don't think it belongs in any hard category.
optissima@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 257d
Then where is your dissent for their opinion?
BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · -3 pts · 257d
Firefox is not going to get shittier just because lemmy doesn't like AI.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 257d
I specifically use firefox to maintain a small shred of privacy online, any non-local AI is a gigantic privacy breach so for me this is making firefox shittier simply by being integrated into the browser.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 257d
That's a lot more civil than personal attacks.