This. NoScript and the Classic Theme Restorer are not optional for me. If those don't work and there is nothing that has the same functionality, I have to move on.
The problem isn't really changing the API itself so much. That's painful, but I understand it. The problem is that it looks like the new API will not allow as much control, making certain essential extensions technically impossible (or nearly so). This is, admittedly, supposition based on rumor, and could very well be incorrect. That's why I'm including so many weasel words. Only time will tell.
By "demonstrate" I don't mean "lost market share". I mean that what they've done with FF demonstrates that they don't have the chops necessary to keep the browser relevant.
But the two things - Eich's departure and aping Chrome - are likely related and it's probably no coincidence that their market share fell away at the same time.
But they didn't.
FF started its precipitous drop in market share around the second quarter of 2009. The Eich stuff happened in 2014.
For me it definitely looks and works better than Chrome.
I've never used the mobile version of Chrome, so I can't compare to that. But FF on my phone is borderline unusable -- it's incredibly slow, and absorbs an untoward amount of system resources. I get the impression that my experience isn't typical, but honestly, the browser I do use (Boat) works well enough that I can't be bothered to try to get FF to work better.
I also use Thunderbird exclusively as an email client.
As do I. I am continually amazed that there isn't any desktop email client that even comes close to the venerable old T-Bird.
To be honest, I'm not sure why you'd even need a $0.04 PIC. None of them fancy computerized toasters seem to toast bread any better than the $10 electromechanical ones.
I still use Firefox, as I have done for over a decade now, primarily because -- despite its flaws -- it lets me do things that no other browser does, and it's the one I trust the most in terms of privacy (although that trust is not absolute). The extension changes sure look like they will kill features important to me, either by making them technically impossible or by making things painful enough for developers that they won't develop for the platform. If that turn out to be the case, then I'll have to get off the FF train, probably to Pale Moon or some such earlier fork.
I don't use Firefox on my mobile devices, though, because it just plain works poorly for me.
While there certainly is (and should be) a market for high end, cutting edge machines, it's relatively small. For most people, the hardware (in terms of its ability to meet their computing needs) matured many years ago. Those people want computers to be commodity items, because it minimizes what they have to pay to be happy.
And there's nothing wrong with that. It is, in fact, how it works for almost every class of products and services that exist.
I don't think that Mozilla's political stances had anything to do with this. I think that it's more deeply connection to decisions that have been made about their product line.
If not for the fact that the start menu is collapsed to icon and the all programs are exposed by default and you can't change the right panel into text instead of icons it's really similar to the old start menu in function.
True. Ignoring all the stuff they broke in the new Start menu, it's really similar to the old one.
It's true of Windows 10 as well. Microsoft did bring back a start menu -- but the one it implemented in 10 is not the one it got rid of in the first place. The new one is inadequate (for my needs) and therefore must be replaced with a third party one.
Slashdot Mirror
would peeps freak out if Thunderbird did that?
I wouldn't freak out, but I would certainly wouldn't "upgrade" to a version that used ads.
Firefox is the best browser by far.
True, but that's damning it with faint praise. The state of the browser industry these days is simply shameful.
Antibiotics don't affect the flu and can cause additional problems, so this is irrelevant to that. Nobody should be taking antibiotics for the flu.
So I can tell a few days earlier that I've caught the flu. How does that knowledge benefit me in any way?
and still retain full ownership of the game.
Ownership? I think not. The AAA game companies have been quite clear that you don't own shit. You're only renting.
As far as I'm concerned, this is the same thing as Nvidia ceasing promotional game distribution altogether.
This. NoScript and the Classic Theme Restorer are not optional for me. If those don't work and there is nothing that has the same functionality, I have to move on.
The problem isn't really changing the API itself so much. That's painful, but I understand it. The problem is that it looks like the new API will not allow as much control, making certain essential extensions technically impossible (or nearly so). This is, admittedly, supposition based on rumor, and could very well be incorrect. That's why I'm including so many weasel words. Only time will tell.
By "demonstrate" I don't mean "lost market share". I mean that what they've done with FF demonstrates that they don't have the chops necessary to keep the browser relevant.
For the past several years, Mozilla has seemed to let broad ideology drive its decisions.
You do understand that this has been the express purpose and intention of Mozilla from day 1, right? It's not some kind of trap they fell into.
I also commend them for fighting the good fight against h.264. It's too bad we lost, but that's the shakes sometimes.
"FF started its precipitous drop in market share started around the second quarter of 2009"
FTFM
But the two things - Eich's departure and aping Chrome - are likely related and it's probably no coincidence that their market share fell away at the same time.
But they didn't.
FF started its precipitous drop in market share around the second quarter of 2009. The Eich stuff happened in 2014.
For me it definitely looks and works better than Chrome.
I've never used the mobile version of Chrome, so I can't compare to that. But FF on my phone is borderline unusable -- it's incredibly slow, and absorbs an untoward amount of system resources. I get the impression that my experience isn't typical, but honestly, the browser I do use (Boat) works well enough that I can't be bothered to try to get FF to work better.
I also use Thunderbird exclusively as an email client.
As do I. I am continually amazed that there isn't any desktop email client that even comes close to the venerable old T-Bird.
To be honest, I'm not sure why you'd even need a $0.04 PIC. None of them fancy computerized toasters seem to toast bread any better than the $10 electromechanical ones.
I think it's absolutely a leadership problem, but I'm not so sure it's at the CEO level. The problems I see has been in terms of technical leadership.
Of course, a CEO in peak form would recognize a technical leadership issue and take steps to fix it, but still...
Sadly, I agree with you.
I still use Firefox, as I have done for over a decade now, primarily because -- despite its flaws -- it lets me do things that no other browser does, and it's the one I trust the most in terms of privacy (although that trust is not absolute). The extension changes sure look like they will kill features important to me, either by making them technically impossible or by making things painful enough for developers that they won't develop for the platform. If that turn out to be the case, then I'll have to get off the FF train, probably to Pale Moon or some such earlier fork.
I don't use Firefox on my mobile devices, though, because it just plain works poorly for me.
Yes, this.
While there certainly is (and should be) a market for high end, cutting edge machines, it's relatively small. For most people, the hardware (in terms of its ability to meet their computing needs) matured many years ago. Those people want computers to be commodity items, because it minimizes what they have to pay to be happy.
And there's nothing wrong with that. It is, in fact, how it works for almost every class of products and services that exist.
I don't think that Mozilla's political stances had anything to do with this. I think that it's more deeply connection to decisions that have been made about their product line.
I'm pretty sure that Mozilla has spent the last few years demonstrating that they lost that ability long before these layoffs.
Nor would it give me another opportunity to shout my frustration about what's become of Windows and my powerlessness to do anything about it.
Approximately never.
Giving someone their 'marching orders' basically means firing them.
That's one common meaning, but not the only one. I hear it quite regularly in the sense of "being assigned a task".
If not for the fact that the start menu is collapsed to icon and the all programs are exposed by default and you can't change the right panel into text instead of icons it's really similar to the old start menu in function.
True. Ignoring all the stuff they broke in the new Start menu, it's really similar to the old one.
It's true of Windows 10 as well. Microsoft did bring back a start menu -- but the one it implemented in 10 is not the one it got rid of in the first place. The new one is inadequate (for my needs) and therefore must be replaced with a third party one.
I don't see how a constantly updating Windows is much worse than a constantly updating Ubuntu?
I don't use Ubuntu, so can't speak to that. But none of my Linux boxen require me to constantly update anything whatsoever.