Mozilla cuts 25% of workforce. Firefox is history?

[caver]

I took the FB app off my phone about 3+ years ago. I let it become an annoying distraction and then one day it was crashing my phone every time I opened it. I said goodbye to the phone app and haven't missed it since. I do like that I have been able to reconnect with old friends from my teens and 20's but too many people are on it now. It's more like a meme contest. The politics...I had to hide several and just outright unfriended about 25 people not long ago. I still use Marketplace but the new layout has royally screwed that up. I also use the messenger app since i prefer typing messages on my laptop vs a phone.

 

[LouNY]

I'm using Firefox and see no reason to change at this time.
Chrome is goggle which is as or more invasive then Microsoft or Facebook.

 

[Jstpssng]

I took the FB app off my phone about 3+ years ago. I let it become an annoying distraction and then one day it was crashing my phone every time I opened it. I said goodbye to the phone app and haven't missed it since. I do like that I have been able to reconnect with old friends from my teens and 20's but too many people are on it now. It's more like a meme contest. The politics...I had to hide several and just outright unfriended about 25 people not long ago. I still use Marketplace but the new layout has royally screwed that up. I also use the messenger app since i prefer typing messages on my laptop vs a phone.

You just described why I left FB after the last presidential election, sans the phone app; I have yet to see one which benefited anybody except the server. What I find frustrating is that a lot of small businesses use FB for their web page, so I am unable to access their page.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I'm using Firefox and see no reason to change at this time.
Chrome is goggle which is as or more invasive then Microsoft or Facebook.

To be sure, google knows all your secrets and monetizes them too. However I have generally found google to be more forthcoming about what they do, whereas fb is not at all forthcoming about what they do with your stuff, and the cambridge analytica type stuff seems to happen more with facebook. Just my opinion of course.

The best use for both of them now is to spy on your frenemies, find other approaches (like Proton Mail) for privacy.

 

[caver]

Have you looked at mewe?

I tried it and Parler. I think Mewe might work for me. Mewe seems easier to navigate and a little like fb. I had probably a half dozen FB friends open a Parler account today. That surprised me but I'm glad to see others wake up and smell the biscuits and gravy.

 

[Oaktree]

You just described why I left FB after the last presidential election, sans the phone app; I have yet to see one which benefited anybody except the server. What I find frustrating is that a lot of small businesses use FB for their web page, so I am unable to access their page.

I never got on the FB ride to begin with. Well, I did create an account using a fake name maybe 8 years ago, but discovered that there wasn't much useful/interesting I could see without giving up a lot of personal information so I never went back. IMHO just another way to waste time. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I knew 40-odd years ago that I'm interested in reconnecting with.

Agree with you re: businesses using FB as their web presence. Some make their pages public, but I still find the layout, lack of searchability and slow loading annoying and usually just don't bother.

To be sure, google knows all your secrets and monetizes them too. However I have generally found google to be more forthcoming about what they do, whereas fb is not at all forthcoming about what they do with your stuff, and the cambridge analytica type stuff seems to happen more with facebook. Just my opinion of course.

Does Google have a way to associate you personally with your browsing history, etc. if you don't sign in to one of their accounts (GMail, etc), or do they just associate it with an IP address?

One thing I dislike about Gmail (as well as most other "free" email providers) is that they now require a cell# in order to open an account. Google claims some BS "so we know it's really you", whatever that means. Won't accept a landline #. Nope, sorry, no way.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Does Google have a way to associate you personally with your browsing history, etc. if you don't sign in to one of their accounts (GMail, etc), or do they just associate it with an IP address?

One thing I dislike about Gmail (as well as most other "free" email providers) is that they now require a cell# in order to open an account. Google claims some BS "so we know it's really you", whatever that means. Won't accept a landline #. Nope, sorry, no way.

I'm no expert, I'm sure google works with third parties to track your activity, including by "bugs" on the page, just like facebook does. And if you're using google's DNS servers they also track your activity (i.e. they know your computer IP address did a DNS lookup for pornhub.com ) I know my ISP default router configuration was pointed at google's DNS servers. I changed them to the other guys, at 1.1.1.1, can't remember their name, but they supposedly don't track you.

Things are so sophisticated these days. Web sites can tell who you are from aggregate browser information, IP address, even the way you use the English language in your posts.

Re: Gmail account, I opened a second gmail account recently and I don't possess a cell phone, but I don't remember what I did, if anything, to make it happen. Anyway, I suspect it should be possible.

Moral of story, I use gmail accounts, but as we march forward in time the goal is to use it more as a honey trap, and move my more privacy minded things to VPNs and an email service like Proton Mail.

 

[Tinhack]

First I've heard about FireFux. Good riddance. :dance1: What version was it up to? Probably something like 8,935,742.901521. I couldn't get that bloated tank off my PC soon enough. I tried it years ago and every time I opened it the thing wanted to update. I was on dialup back then so I think I kept it for a week. Tried it again a few years later and it was still a tank that crashed on every other webpage. Perhaps it didn't like my security package. :laughing:

 

[rekees4300]

First I've heard about FireFux. Good riddance. :dance1: What version was it up to? Probably something like 8,935,742.901521. I couldn't get that bloated tank off my PC soon enough. I tried it years ago and every time I opened it the thing wanted to update. I was on dialup back then so I think I kept it for a week. Tried it again a few years later and it was still a tank that crashed on every other webpage. Perhaps it didn't like my security package. :laughing:

Current Firefox version is 82.0.3. I've been using Firefox since it was created around 2005. Hate to see it die but there are many good alternatives. Chrome is the gorilla in the room but I'll NEVER use it or any other Google software. Many years ago I opened a gmail account. Then learned that Google employees had access to all gmail accounts. That was a deal-breaker, put Google on my software blacklist. Closed the account and have avoided Google like the plague ever since.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I'll give firefox the contrary vote. I like it just fine, I use it daily on linux with no issues. The only thing it does poorly is printing, for me. I'll use it until I have some reason not to.