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Mozilla Kills Its Experimental Firefox Test Pilot Program 3 Years After Launch (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Mozilla has announced that it is closing Firefox Test Pilot, an experimental program it launched three years ago. Firefox Test Pilot allowed users to try out potential new built-in Firefox features and offer feedback to the browser maker. The company says the program was used by an average of 100,000 daily users. A report adds: It's worth noting here that Test Pilot is separate from the various beta versions of Firefox, which are early iterations designed to fine-tune features intended for the prime-time Firefox. Test Pilot, on the other hand, is more about Mozilla dipping its toes in the water to see whether a new feature is worth pursuing at all in the main version of the app, or even as a standalone product. Ultimately, it allows Firefox developers to take bigger risks with their ideas.

23 comments

  1. and they dont care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just more proof devs are out of touch

    1. Re:and they dont care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but keeping it would be 'bloat' for the evil purpose of 'tracking'

      just more proof Slashdot hates anything Mozilla does

    2. Re: and they dont care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what do you want? A medal?

    3. Re:and they dont care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they cared when feedback data showed that most users hated the new "features".

    4. Re:and they dont care by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      The company says the program was used by an average of 100,000 daily users.

      So the entire remaining Firefox user base was using it? That's a pretty impressive participation rate.

  2. Mozilla kills everything it touches. by xack · · Score: 1

    Eventually it will use Blink. It's only a matter of time. They said they wouldn't change the interface, they said they wouldn't drop XUL, they said they wouldn't add telemetry, they said they wouldn't do anymore "experiments" and they will sell out to their Google masters. And if you're going to say it, Pale Moon already sold out blocking noscript and other blocking tools. The Googlization is an open source wide problem, getting Blinked is the same trend as getting Electroned or SystemD'ed

    1. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Merk42 · · Score: 1

      Well surely all the super-smart people here would be able to develop with their own browser that wouldn't have those issues and also be widely adopted because it'd be the best, right?

    2. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Bradmont · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem is that software doesn't get adopted for being the best, it gets adopted by being well marketed, which is pretty much antithetical to FLOSS software, unless it's sponsored by a massive company, like Google's rendering engine.

    3. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Informative

      And if you're going to say it, Pale Moon already sold out blocking noscript and other blocking tools.

      Huh?

      I'm reading /. with current PaleMoon, with NoScript, right now.

      So, what are you talking about?

    4. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...they said they wouldn't drop XUL...

      People constantly complained about the memory leaks. Turned out most of the memory leaks came from XUL/Letting addons do whatever they wanted.

      What exactly was Mozilla supposed to do in that situation?

    5. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah! Blink sucks! So let's criticize the only people left who care about making a non-Blink browser engine and upholding web standards! Oh, wait...

      And yeah! Google is evil! That' why we're criticizing those who are trying to find alternative ways to raise the funding necessary to make a competitor to one of their key products, without their money! Oh, wait...

      Bah, let's just say they said things they didn't, and then act like we were always right. That always works. Even if we did fuck all to help Mozilla or upstage them, except criticize them and act right.

    6. Re: Mozilla kills everything it touches. by nina22 · · Score: 0

      Google masters. And if you're going to say it, Pale Moon already sold out blocking noscript and other blocking tools. The Googlization is an open source wide problem, getti [url=https://audacity.onl/]Audacity[/url] [url=https://findmyiphone.onl/]Find My iPhone[/url] [url=https://origin.onl/]Origin[/url]

    7. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by BlackOverflow · · Score: 1

      That's wierd, because I'm using Palemoon with noscript running right as I type this. I agree with you on everything else, though.

    8. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WebKit still exists, isn't Blink, is open source, and is fighting Google.

    9. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Uhhh Pale Moon just replaced NoScript with uBlock Origin due to issues with NoScript ABE support (and the guy running NoScript adding sites to the default allow list for extra revenue) and they even added a handy extension that downloads the latest version compatible with PM so you don't need to know which version works with FF and which with PM. Works quite well.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    10. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He probably meant the drama around Pale Moon's behavior when installing NoScript.

      Since NoScript "broke too many things", the developers pushed a patch in one of the versions which disabled the extension. Along with that, any attempts to install produced a warning whose message wasn't really helpful. You could re-enable and ignore the warning, but it was a pretty shitty move for the devs to disable an extension.

      They patched it out later due to user feedback (and backlash).

    11. Re:Mozilla kills everything it touches. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      noscript's default whitelist, besides the guy's own domains (which you never need to go to, nor will ever see if you disable the notification on updates), are ones most users are going to whitelist anyway.. (google api, microsoft account login, etc). preemptive settings to reduce support queries on various forums and web sites.

      just as you can disable 'acceptable ads' in adblock plus, you can easily remove any of noscript's whitelist defaults.

  3. Yeah, now it's Chrome. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Want to see exactly what Firefox is going to look in the next random week? Download Chrome.

    Firefox has somehow willfully thrown away every aspect of their browser that made it unique or hold advantage over Chrome for the sake of ... gaining market share? No, that makes no sense from a basic logic standpoint.

    At some point, serving the interests of folks that actually want to use their browser lost out against... I guess an risky avant garde fashion sense? Minimism of usefulness? Proof by absurdism?

    I can't properly even guess at this point - perhaps someone made a bet on how many bad decisions they can force on a major project before someone catches on and fires them?

  4. It clearly didn't help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Firefox Test Pilot allowed users to try out potential new built-in Firefox features to understand if they are popular with users."

    They have continually put out some of the most trash updates and features and made some awful decisions.

  5. Mozilla has to shrink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mozilla could easily collapse when Google's contract with Mozilla ends. I mean it wouldn't take much to end Firefox's misery given its monthly shrinking market share. Given that Edge will become another Chromium clone won't help either.

  6. It obviously wasn't working by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Considering the abomination that is their updated version.