That was definitely the most infuriating thing they’d done with the mobile browser. The whole project started decades ago with a simple plan: make the most bare-bones browser, and let people customize it with any extensions they wanted. Then all of a sudden, it turned into having <10 approved extensions, and fuck your customization.
It’s gotten much better over time since then, but damn if there weren’t a few really bad years.
I think they went evil because letting google pay 80% of your bills isn’t really tenable… but some incredibly boneheaded decisions. Instead of offering their own suite of privacy focused products they tried to cram pocket down everyone’s throats.
I love Firefox but they have made some crushingly bad calls over the years.
It does make me suspect that when Google first funded them, the real handshake had little to do with using them as their default search engine, and instead had to do with cutting back on their focus on privacy to pursue literally anything else. But that’s just a conspiracy theory of mine.
Google funds Firefox so that it serves as a controlled opposition and to avoid antitrust action. However, most of the stupid decisions by Mozilla are self-inflicted by top management who are more focused on being an NGO than a tech company.
That was definitely the most infuriating thing they’d done with the mobile browser. The whole project started decades ago with a simple plan: make the most bare-bones browser, and let people customize it with any extensions they wanted. Then all of a sudden, it turned into having <10 approved extensions, and fuck your customization.
It’s gotten much better over time since then, but damn if there weren’t a few really bad years.
I think they went evil because letting google pay 80% of your bills isn’t really tenable… but some incredibly boneheaded decisions. Instead of offering their own suite of privacy focused products they tried to cram pocket down everyone’s throats.
I love Firefox but they have made some crushingly bad calls over the years.
It does make me suspect that when Google first funded them, the real handshake had little to do with using them as their default search engine, and instead had to do with cutting back on their focus on privacy to pursue literally anything else. But that’s just a conspiracy theory of mine.
Google funds Firefox so that it serves as a controlled opposition and to avoid antitrust action. However, most of the stupid decisions by Mozilla are self-inflicted by top management who are more focused on being an NGO than a tech company.
I like these types of conspiracy theories