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Mozilla Launches Experimental Voice Search, File-Sharing and Note-Taking Tools For Firefox (techcrunch.com)
Firefox has just launched three new Test Pilot experiments that bring voice search, built-in note taking and a tool for sending large files to the browser. From a report: While the new voice search, which currently works on the Google, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo homepages, and note-taking features are browser plugins, the new Send tool is web-based and allows anybody -- no matter which browser they use -- to send files up to 1GB in size. It encrypts the file as it is uploaded and gives you a link you can share with your friends and co-workers. Files are automatically deleted after one download or after one day. That's not exactly the most novel concept (and Mozilla has often been criticized for diverting its attention from its core competencies), but the built-in encryption and the open-source nature of the tool do make up for that.
and more bloat.
I just wish they'd spend some development time to actually improve the browser, rather than let it continue on the decline it's been engaging in for years now.
Voice-to-text wrappers are a nice touch - but they really shouldn't be a 'browser' feature - but a system feature that can be used in ANY application, so you don't have to tweak it separately for every tool you use.
Note taking is also an occasionally neat thing - but not something you want constrained to the browser developers controlling. Browser developers shouldn't have an interest in getting a piece of that pie, or shaping that 'market', even between open source options.
And file sharing tools? That's an odd technology to push into - not too removed from HTTP/FTP (filezilla) logic at times, but very fiddly even for companies that devote their full focus on it. That said, I'd love it if the 'default' tools could smoothly resume arbitrary download after an interruption, integrate multiple downloads from identically hashed sources, and so on... but companies that take such tools on as secondary interests tend to let such tools fall to dust shortly after trumpeting their first launch. Also, something better done through an official plugin, rather than integrating directly.
Honestly though, these should all be officially supported PLUGINS ("add-ons"), not integrated components. Oh, and they should focus on NEVER BREAKING PLUGINS - they've basically killed half the plugins I've liked about their browser over time, due to their allergy to backwards compatibility options.
Want to know what makes for a good base product over time? Become a platform that bigger hits work with smoothly. Support that platform, and make a brand out of the efficiency, stability and reliability of that platform. Don't try and redefine yourself every two weeks. Let the plugins redefine what can be DONE with your platforms instead - best of both worlds.
Don't just slap a new forced coat of paint or end-user feature on, and pretend that you're trendy - you're not a public traded company, you shouldn't have to play that game.
Ryan Fenton
If your organization has any restrictions on sharing information, this is just another hole to monitor and / or plug.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
I watch Netflix in Firefox. On Linux and Windows.
Mozilla needs to decide whether they want a rich browser or a minimalist one. The Firefox strategy used to be to remove as many features as possible in order to make the browser more like Chrome, while encouraging the development of extensions that replace those features. The problem was that Chrome only started as a barebones browser out of necessity, and have been steadily adding stuff while Mozilla was removing them. Meanwhile, the Chrome-like rapid release schedule was causing problems with compatibility, weakening Firefox's extension ecosystem. But while abandoning the minimalist strategy might seem like a good choice, I don't think Mozilla has a coherent plan of what to do next. These additions seem haphazard, putting in a bunch of complex functionality should come after solving the basic problems. As long as I need separate extensions for mouse gestures or rebinding hotkeys, integrating a dropbox clone into the browser should be pretty low on the priority list. I guess this is a common problem in open source, unpaid hobby developers will want to work on te new and interesting stuff, and nobody wants to do the housekeeping. There may be a lesson to be learned here: open source projects should be a lot more careful than commercial ones about removing features, because they will have a hard time convincing their coders to develop the same thing again if they change their mind later.
So, if I want to share a 1 GB file with 3 friends, I need to upload it 3 times? And send 3 different (non-encrypted) emails?
Or I could just use GDrive or Dropbox, which don't have this awful limitation. Seems to me that they forgot usability an only thought about privacy and security.
I read a few comments here and I think there is something worth pointing out. This is part of the Test Pilot program and only is in your browser if you've opted in on the Test Pilot program and only then is it "added" to your install.
Do note, this isn't me condoning anything here, I'm just merely trying to point out that if you aren't in the Test Pilot program, then you're not seeing these tools/invasion of privacy/wherever you stand between those two points. I don't know what the ultimate intention is here and honestly I forgot my asbestos suit at home so I'll abstain from any flame.
Could be some dumb fun for luddites like me still with a beige tower and wired keyboard, meaning I can sit far back (or have food plates in the way) and use only the mouse sometimes.
But the main reason is probably that they've been doing research on voice features. And so this is a way to expose it to the public, more specifically willing users. This might well bring attention to that "Test Pilot" programme in the first place.
Even if it's kind of useless, the four or five evil giant companies are pushing voice interfaces, some of them apparently selling a few zillions devices even. So there's something of a danger of leaving it entirely to the faceless giant companies. And if this thing only types words into a search box, at least we can understand what it does. Good thing to keep it dumb. Less things behind my back. Ideally this could be an entirely offline feature.