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Mozilla To Remove Hello In Firefox 49 (softpedia.com)
Firefox's voice and videoconferencing add-on was described as "the first global communications system built directly into a browser" -- but things change. An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: An entry on Mozilla's issue tracker opened on July 17 reveals ongoing efforts from Mozilla engineers to remove the Hello system add-on from default Firefox installations starting with version 49, set for public release on September 13, 2016. Mozilla added Hello to Firefox in version 34, released on December 1, 2014, and from the beginning, it was part of the browser's core code, but was moved in December 2015 into a separate add-on, one that came pre-installed with Firefox, making Hello its first ever system add-on.
Mozilla plans to remove Hello from the codebases of Firefox Beta 49, Firefox Developer Edition 50, and Firefox Nightly 51. Based on the currently available information, the deadline for the Hello code removal operations is for this Monday, August 1, after which the first Firefox builds with no Hello integration will be available for testing, and will ship out in the fall with the stable release.
The article suggests this may have been a space-saving measure, "since Mozilla is focused on rebuilding Firefox's code from scratch to keep up with speedier competitors like Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi."
Mozilla plans to remove Hello from the codebases of Firefox Beta 49, Firefox Developer Edition 50, and Firefox Nightly 51. Based on the currently available information, the deadline for the Hello code removal operations is for this Monday, August 1, after which the first Firefox builds with no Hello integration will be available for testing, and will ship out in the fall with the stable release.
The article suggests this may have been a space-saving measure, "since Mozilla is focused on rebuilding Firefox's code from scratch to keep up with speedier competitors like Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi."
Now when I install a fresh FF it will be one less thing to do in about:config...
Disable Firefox Hello
loop.enabled = false
Disable Pocket
browser.pocket.enabled = false
Disable One-Click Search Bar (no longer working)
browser.search.showOneOffButtons = false
Enable Firefox Tracking Protection
privacy.trackingprotection.enabled = true
Disable Tab Animations
browser.tabs.animate = false
Disable Search in Url Bar
browser.urlbar.unifiedcomplete = false
Bring back the real about:blank (and remove the gears in about:blank).
Remove Pocket
Remove Australis
Remove safe browsing (i.e., calling-home to google for every site you visit). At least it should be opt-in, not opt-out.
Remove Geo tracking completely (geo.enabled=false in about:config.) That should have been opt-in and not opt-out.
Remove anything related to facebook. "social.manifest.facebook" and all the "social.*" settings - WTF do they need to be in my browser?\
Set the default search engine to startpage or duckduckgo, not google.