Enough is enough with Firefox

[carlosgonz]

OpenSource, FOSS, FLOSS are OSI terms it is not you own meaning freedom…

So if you want to use the user freedom to recall Opensource - Freesoftware terms then invent one term that wasnt invented by these two organizations. like: Public Code, Whatever…

OpenSource(foss,floss) are boycott term for FreeSoftware, which it is not ethical. Its super obvious all damage that this garbage o.s.i organization has done to the FSF.

ATM OSI control Gnu/Linux and YOU, and you will never has the CONTROL: Winux

If Linux is so fancy then play games without log-in into steam-os. Even you need log-in twice to game.

Ridiculously, the SuperTux game on SteamOS is under WindowOS binary.

[carlosgonz]

@carlosgonz

if i hate

You know what? Hate is too bad too strong, so i reverting to: Not Like It.
No more hating..

Bad Bunny author

[Ick]

@carlosgonz

If Linux is so fancy then play games without log-in into steam-os.

Nearly all systems running SteamOS are Steamdecks and soon Steam Machine and the new VR headset. SteamOS has no good support on regular hardware currently, so even those people who want to use it, often cannot (and those who have the knowledge probably don’t want it beside some YouTube testing videos).

Anyway, this has nothing to do with Firefox any longer.

[Christal]

carlosgonz, i just try to show you some other scope.

You may be right but if you have no space for lower cooperation suggestions you may end on some nice to have but never got a chance to prove.

Its about possibilities and parallelization like the biological one. Open source will capture its ground like math and space - just with time. Be patient.

However we need to cover humans and some LLMs or Computers on our side… so keep Open Source attractive or on sub layer. You are right to have and keep standards high. Its just sometimes we need shortcuts to establish something in this war of not fair competition.

[carlosgonz]

Opensource is super terrible, interestingly, open-source users dont seem to care because they come from proprietary systems where they have been constantly mistreated and abused; this makes open-source to go unnoticed about mistreatment, not hurting. So user dont see it, dont feel it.

dos shared linux 6.12 for testing dos renamed to kernel which is obscures to reality thanks opensource guideline, and even worse dos didnt shared FULL 6.12 changelog for L5. How can a user(janvlug) say “wow” about this without a full changelog? Linux Opensource it is too much obscure. I fully tired.

There are a lot opensources oses outside so why we need another opensource oses for gnu pureos?

Soon any new Linux computer will fully bloated by 1Gb BLOBS on system, which will be 2GB BLOBs rebloated by initramfs, because you fancy linux computer will need firmware blobs for any controller on computer.

Linux is Handshaking with BLOBs not with YOU!

Linux must be take the responsibility for its blobs and not dump it for GNU by changing the blobs route: from /lib/firmware to /boot/firmware

[Christal]

I am so with you but my life i in this reality of 2026. You like the holy grail and the pure philosophy, or democracy. But in between we have to have some sucking shortcuts because some one/thing just installed thinks on the way between. Some beginner or one with not enough time and power or team work.

So i think we do not know who or which or what will read our lines and study and code and go on. But we have to have to take care about to push on the flame like in Olympia or Democracy or the first open source computers/compilers.

It will never be perfect. But we have to establish something between.

However: Like in Hygiene, we need to have some stable Ground and shared points.

[Christal]

I hated steam since HL2, because it was back there a DRM Protection. But Valve and Steam itself was good in the end about 2026.

So with Linux and A.I., DRM and not have a free Internet it is bad. Youtube is too if it steals your telemetry while watching and try to nudge you to another direction by algorithm. (Like Ticktock).

I am not about US or China. Something in between if you can have a free will by not sharing the past will be fine. However we need access to this normal new computation in between.

[amarok]

Heads up: Changes coming in Firefox 149.

Firefox is also getting a fresh new look across our website, product and beyond. This includes updated themes, icons, and visual refinements across Firefox, including our toolbars, menus, and the homepage. It also brings usability improvements that make key features easier to access. The changes reflect user feedback and aim to modernize the browser while reinforcing a more distinctly Firefox look and feel. We appreciate the community feedback on the designs. We’ll be sharing more soon.

[Ick]

If it is still as the preview showed, than it is the most ugly theming I ever have seen on Firefox and it will cause a huge amount of fixes for mobile settings and now on desktop as well… They just removed the Firefox out of Firefox and now the browser is a purple poison pile (a reference to their newest marketing gag).

The split screen is actually a good change. I bet it is not nicely usable on vertical monitors (as phones or 90° monitors).

[Privacy2]

@amarok

Heads up: Changes coming in Firefox 149.

Thanks. And while you quoted the changes to “look and feel”, it’s an important (I bolded it) note that:

Firefox is for people who make their own choices online, from what stays private to the tools that help get things done. That commitment to choice shows up throughout the Firefox experience, and AI controls is just the latest example — making it possible to turn generative AI features off, on, or customize them feature by feature.

as well as incorporating a Free VPN of sorts (it’s really a browser proxy rather that a full VPN).

A free built-in VPN is coming to Firefox. Free VPNs can sometimes mean sketchy arrangements that end up compromising your privacy, but ours is built from our data principles and commitment to be the world’s most trusted browser. It routes your browser traffic through a proxy to hide your IP address and location while you browse, giving you stronger privacy and protection online with no extra downloads. Users will have 50 gigabytes of data monthly in the U.S., France, Germany and U.K. to start. Available in Firefox 149 starting March 24.

[Ick]

The issue is that AI-chat is build-in in first place. Especially since these tools are no local and privacy respecting LLMs, but the worst ones you can imagine with cloud service etc. That hurts the mission of Mozilla which was formed decades ago in multiple points.

[amarok]

The first annoyance I’ve noticed in Firefox 149… well, in LibreWolf 149, as LW received the update before my Firefox installation:

Degraded usability of the search box widget (for those who use it).

In previous versions, through 148, typing a search term in the widget automatically opens a drop-down box allowing you to easily click a particular search engine you might have added - Wikipedia, Open Street Map, Searx, etc. - which are displayed in a compact tiled arrangement. Click the one you want, or right-click and choose “Open in new tab.”

In 149, typing a search term in the widget does… nothing… unless you then also click the search icon, and instead of showing the compact tiled arrangement of your added search engines, it displays a vertical list, forcing you to scroll down through them with the mouse pointer (or to tap on one, if you’re using a touchscreen), which is a much less frictionless workflow.

Not only that, in the new design, you seemingly can’t right-click a search engine to open the search in a new tab. As if that weren’t bad enough, choosing a search engine from that list only sets the engine for the search widget, it doesn’t execute the search until you also click the magnifying glass. And you still can’t open it in a new tab.

The fix, at least unless and until it’s deprecated by Mozilla, in about:config is to set the following to “false:”

browser.search.widget.new

It’s hard to fathom what Mozilla developers were thinking here. “How can we add more steps to this simple process and also reduce functionality??”

[Ick]

I really hope enough people will complain about that they at least improve it to the previous usability point. I don’t care if it uses a list or tiling, but the additional clicks are not acceptable. And I dislike the additional space requirement for phone usage.

Does it come at least with the breakout-bar as the address-bar has, that this “feature” is at least somehow useful?

[amarok]

@Ick

Does it come at least with the breakout-bar as the address-bar has

What is that?

[Ick]

Click on the address-bar and it expends over the whole screen size. If we can adjust it on search-bar too, it would be a huge benefit for mobile usage. And the new design looks like the address-bar, so I hope it also got this functionality.

[amarok]

I have that disabled in Firefox and LibreWolf, but I think it’s related to their “Quick Settings” option, combined with “Suggest search engines to use” and “Search suggestions.” If I temporarily enable those in 149, it adds the drop-down list of engines and suggestions… but it doesn’t allow opening in a different tab. I don’t see a way to adjust the size of the drop-down, either.

[Ick]

It is not the drop-down that changes, it is the address bar itself that pops out with everything that hangs on it (the list below etc). It is nice, because it gives more space to write things and after hitting Enter it shrinks again.

[amarok]

Hmmm… must be something I’ve disabled in about:config in the past. I’ll have to look for it.

[Ick]

I enabled it via CSS hack, not via config.

[amarok]

I see that toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets is still present in about:config, so it should be possible to adjust it to your liking.