Google looks to be fully shutting down unsupported extensions and ad blockers in Chrome – which might push some folks to switch to Firefox
www.techradar.com
Manifesting a future where Firefox is more successful?

Clearly, Google is serious about trying to oust ad blockers from its browser, or at least those extensions with fuller (V2) levels of functionality. One of the crucial twists with V3 is that it prevents the use of remotely hosted code – as a security measure – but this also means ad blockers can’t update their filter lists without going through Google’s review process. What does that mean? Way slower updates for said filters, which hampers the ability of the ad-blocking extension to keep up with the necessary changes to stay effective.

(This isn’t just about browsers, either, as the war on advert dodgers extends to YouTube, too, as we’ve seen in recent months).

At any rate, Google is playing with fire here somewhat – or Firefox, perhaps we should say – as this may be the shove some folks need to get them considering another of the best web browsers out there aside from Chrome. Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has vowed to maintain support for V2 extensions, while introducing support for V3 alongside to give folks a choice (now there’s a radical idea).

  • portside@monyet.ccEnglish
    2·
    17 minutes ago

    I’ve fully switched to Firefox everywhere. The only thing I’m missing is a lightweight browser which is not based on chromium for my potato tablet. jQuarks viewer is a good one but can be dumb sometimes, it opens image instead of the link for eg.

  • quant@leminal.spaceEnglish
    1·
    12 minutes ago

    If only banks and government websites moved their asses and stopped mentioning Internet Explorer for one more time…

  • LifeOfChance@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 hour ago

    Firefox isn’t far behind now. They just announced ads are coming and they know their platform is used heavily with ad blocking extensions so they’ll cut it

    • thatsnothowyoudoit@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      50 minutes ago

      For those of us who work in (or love) tech - we (myself included) grossly overestimate how much the general public cares about, or cares to be informed about, this stuff. Heck, even people in tech who know better.

      I wish it wasn’t the case but look how long and hard Microsoft moved on Internet Explorer and ActiveX back in the early days of the web.

      Google and Chrome is just another bit of history repeating.

      As an aside, I’ve been using Zen for about a week and it’s been wonderful. Easy transition from Firefox because it largely is Firefox, so anll my containers, extensions, annd settings carried over. Zen’s workspaces provide exactly the promise I’d hoped “tab groups” brought with Safari (but never worked right). I just wish there was an equivalent to the Hush plug-in on Safari (even after a year of full-timing FF, consent-o-matic is quite poor).

    • Final Remix@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      2 hours ago

      I kinda have to at work. Our classroom computers reset between classes and Chrome is the only browser installed. I might ask IT about that, moving forward, given uBlock getting neutered soon.

  • 🖖USS-Ethernet@startrek.websiteEnglish
    14·
    4 hours ago

    When is this happening? I’ve been telling my wife and kid that they need to stop using chrome for a year, but ublock is still working for them and blocking YouTube ads. They are the type that won’t switch until it becomes a problem for them.

    • LWD@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      3 hours ago

      I think that’s the point: Google has been shutting down Manifest V2 extensions one step at a time, and it’s been experimenting with anti-ad-block tech on YouTube with one user group at a time.

  • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    4 hours ago

    Move, yeah. To Firefox… meh. The writing’s not on the wall yet, but we’re not going to ignore the very heavy signaling Mozilla has been doing for years now.

  • MC_Lovecraft@lemm.eeEnglish
    35·
    6 hours ago

    I remember the internet before Google, and how game changing it was to have all of the internet indexed in one place (even if that wasn’t actually quite true back then). If you had asked me 15, 10, even 5 years ago if I would be cheering its downfall and yearning for a return to a simpler, far less centralized internet, I would have called you crazy. And yet here we are.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    4 hours ago

    I heard that google is sending fake focus groups invites to males around your area. Yeah, it’s true! Someone gullible enough to drive to their facility and sit in their special google chairs. Once they sit, the chair 💺 traps them and a small machine arm approaches in between their legs, injects local anesthesia and procedes to remove the genitalia. It was a really well done Fox News report that I heard on MPR. It’s supposed to be part of alphabet’s war on cancer. They will eventually have the robots smart enough to remove only cancer cells. But yeah, for now it’s removing the whole thing. So be on the lookout for that. And ads! I hate the ads!

    • turtletracks@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      4 hours ago

      Right? I don’t think anyone using Chrome with adblockers is just gonna be like “oh well, guess we got ads now”

      • ripcord@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        53 minutes ago

        I’d be really, really surprised if a bunch don’t bother doing anything. Maybe most.

  • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
    19·
    1 hour ago

    The lack of HVEC/h.265 support is kind of a deal breaker in firefox (windows nightly builds don’t count as done). I need it to view h.265 security cameras and the occasional movie streamed via browser.

    Edit: For those suggesting multiple browsers I could just use Edge if I wanted to… still better compatibility as it is essentially chromium.

    I have a list of other things that don’t work reliably in Firefox such as various video conferencing tools so no, I am not going to switch to Firefox as my primary browser again anytime soon.

    I was a Firefox user for many years but there are too many daily things I use to now prevent me from using it as a primary browser for work and causal use.

    • x00za@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      49 minutes ago

      Use Chromium for the security cameras, and use something sensible for all your normal browsing usage?

    • iopq@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 hour ago

      I guess when edge stops supporting v2 you’ll just look at ads then

      I won’t

    • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      5 hours ago

      Cool thing is you can run multiple browsers. So just use Chrome for your cameras and Firefox for everything else.

      • AlternateRoute@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Why would I use multiple browsers if I can achieve nearly everything in one? I would much rather use Edge or Safari for everything than Firefox plus another browser.

        • ramble81@lemm.eeEnglish
          5·
          1 hour ago

          Because Edge has also moved to Manifest V3 and Safari uses WebKit which doesn’t have the same degree of blocking. I mean, you do you, enjoy your ads.