206
Thank god we have a photo of the firefox logo instead of an article
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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Technology
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This is good enough for me. This means the Firefox code base will not get so integrated with AI features that forkers cannot remove them, and that was my primary concern.
Firefox has actually become less stable for me, which is crazy because it was stable for several years.
It had gotten bloated and unstable when Chrome first came out, too.
Why does Mozilla always trend toward mediocrity?
The enshitification of Firefox may slow at times, but it's been consistently getting worse since Firefox 2.0 over 2 decades ago.
I wonder if it's google telling Mozilla what to do, to keep getting their money.
Yawn. People have been saying "Screw MozIlla, I'm switching browsers now!"
Nothing new. Just disable the feature like you do with telemetry lol.
I disabled telemetry by switching browsers tho
You cannot do that in chrome.
I started using a firefox fork lol
switching browsers
Firefox fork
So still the same browser, just a different flavor. Chrome and Firefox are different browsers. IronFox and LibreWolf are still Firefox.
I'm interested in Ladybird so we can have an independent browser with no ties to Google.
Yeah, the same browser engine. That'd be like saying all linux is the same because they all use the kernel. I do look forward to ladybird though
Then good
Which fork?
Yep, faster and easier than spending an hour configuring Firefox every time reinstalling it on a new OS install.
5min ago some heresay said it would be easy to opt-out.
Can't believe anything until it's out.
Oh great, another item to waste my time checking when installing Firefox... Already takes near an hour to configure Firefox each time... Now have to watch out for the day they let the rest of that AI camel in the tent.
*Installs LibreWolf, stays sane*
i don't distrohop so my betterfox user.js is serving me well.
Lol, lmao. Still deleting firefox, get fucked. Mozilla betrayed its users trust by choosing to follow this slop trend, and they'll suffer the consequences.
& you'll suffer the consequences of monopoly. Wait it out until LadyBird & Servo gets fully tested out
Why should I wait it out with a company that's betrayed the userbase's trust when it comes to not only privacy, but by also implementing a feature that everyone KNOWS is harmful to both the planet and society as a whole.
I've already moved browsers to one that respects its users enough to not push something that's a quick cashgrab while it burns the planet and harvests our data.
You should wait for a proper Alternative or make one yourself. Because Chrome is not that
I already moved from chrome to firefox, now from firefox to waterfox
Ok that's good.
So you'll just not visit websites at all anymore?
The rms approach looks better and better.
Yep, never using the internet again. Firefox is the only platform available to browse the internet, and since they're sloppifying themselves I'm leaving the whole internet.
Well you haven't exactly specified what browser you're moving to, so we're left wondering if you're using a Servo dev build, a terminal-based browser, or carrier pigeons.
Sorry pal, forogt the /S tone indicator
I'm not really sure how that's a response to my comment.
Looks like from another response, you moved to Waterfox? You're still using a fork of Firefox, though your comment made it sound like you moved entirely away from Mozilla (Waterfox still depends on Mozilla developing FF, from my understanding).
Anyway, seems like a good choice at least. Personally, I'm on Zen now. Hopefully we'll get a real alternative at some point though.
That's my bad, seemed like you were taking my comment at face value instead of seeing it was me being snarky at the user saying "So you'll just not visit websites at all any more?" As if firefox/chrome were the only options for web browsers.
Aye, still using a fork of firefox because the baseline application is still solid, just using one that's designed to be respectful of its users. And clearly open about what it foes in the background.
Touch wood Zen is a solid one for you (also holding out hope for a developer to provide an actual web browser without all this data harvesting bollocks)
Too little too late
That's a contradiction
“Changes course after backlash” != “clarifies”.
~~Changes course~~ swerves erratically before continuing in the same general direction.
I dunno that seems very compatible with the following that was said in the CEO statement.
AI should always be a choice — something people can easily turn off.
Also here is a link to the posts https://mastodon.social/@firefoxwebdevs/115740500373677782
Also, the dev says the following and I think they have a point.
I'm not asking for faith in our direction - the thing I love about the Firefox community is how open, honest, and technical it is.
But I do ask that you don't have the opposite of faith. Like, try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.
try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.
There's a lot Mozilla has done right, but there's a lot they haven't done right as well. These days, the cynical view has proven itself to be more reliable in general, so it's hard not to apply it here as well.
That being said, FF has supported AI chatbots for a while and I haven't seen it come up once in my browser beyond when they said "this is a thing now". But this has also been a good opportunity to explore alternatives, so I'm trying out Zen now (ff-based still).
“Can easily turn off” implies that it ships to you on.
Honestly, asking us to assume that every action comes from a place of good will just makes me doubt them even more. You earn that kind of trust, you don’t ask for it; and if they don’t have it they should be asking hard questions about why.
They are a company that used to be about independent choice but are effectively reliant on Google (a privacy nightmare) to be solvent, and they’re now putting their bets into being “a modern AI browser”. Nothing about that tells me I should just trust them.
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Is the killswitch in settings? Because I had to set browser.ml.enable to false in about:config since there was nothing related to it in settings
Yeah, that’d be like the web browser equivalent of going into the Windows registry editor and changing a value in there. Like, it’s there, but unless you already know what you’re looking for, it’s not really an option.
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Yeah. I'm still pissed off dev hours get wasted on this shit instead of, idk, HDR support? Surround sound audio?
They say a switch will be built in. There is no switch yet. Which means the deluge of little popups about AI tab grouping and the "look at Perplexity" messages are not going away until these changes are actually released.
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then make it an extension.
the fact that they're entertaining ai at all is antithesis to mozilla's mission of an open and environmentally friendly web free from profit.
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