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[Azure Dream]

I remember when a Chrome exploit installed itself as a protected extension, in such a way that it was a massive pain in the ass to scrub it free from Chrome, even on uninstall/reinstall. (Chrome itself barely wanted to let me touch it, because it knows better than the dumb user!) That really soured me on Chrome.

 

[neoism]

will use FF 40 forever then.. the last time i updated it fucked my gaf stylish.. never again

 

[EmiPrime]

This is why I use an older version of firefox where my add-ons still work and is not a resource hog.

will use FF 40 forever then.. the last time i updated it fucked my gaf stylish.. never again

Deliberately using an out of date browser is really bad practice.

 

[Bishop89]

welp, i just disabled automatic updates, not losing my add-ons.

Edit: will use a different one if i dont like the new one

 

[The Real Abed]

Guys, there's still like 12-18 months before this even happens for end users. That's plenty of time for them to change their mind or change plans slightly.

 

[hateradio]

will use FF 40 forever then.. the last time i updated it fucked my gaf stylish.. never again

That sounds weird.

Maybe they removed some -moz CSS entries, that you could probably easily replace.

Guys, there's still like 12-18 months before this even happens for end users. That's plenty of time for them to change their mind or change plans slightly.

Indeed. 12 months could change a few things.

I'm not too worried, but I do hope that I get NoScript and DownloadHelper. Those, I think, are the most XPCOM intense addons I use.

Chrome has had Tampermonkey for a while, so I won't lose things like that, I hope.

 

[FyreWulff]

Guys, there's still like 12-18 months before this even happens for end users. That's plenty of time for them to change their mind or change plans slightly.

It's something that was invented for the Windows 95 dominated era.. When every Windows application assumed it had full unlimited control over the entire system.

They have two decisions: actually update the add ons model for the modern internet and get all the benefits of not using 15 year old technology, or slowly disable functionality that XUL can do that is a potential security problem and will prevent certain add ons from working anyway.

Same reason NPAPI is being deprecated and/or removed from browsers.

 

[deadhorse32]

For the people crying about DownThemAll just use JDownloader (It is a standalone software but there are extensions to integrate it with Firefox & Chrome)

 

[Coreda]

For the security risk of staying on an old browser version, would it be viable to run a browser through a sandbox every time? If you changed the shortcut to go through something like Sandboxie, my first guess is that you'd never notice the difference.

Depends on the definition of security. It's mainly malware and such that are prevented from making changes to the system. Some exploits can work within such limitations such as the recent one mentioned a few posts back that used read-only access to remotely upload local files to the Ukraine.

Also if any browser data/login vulnerabilities were present in an older version and were exploited during the sandboxed session it wouldn't be protected, which is something to keep in mind as it's easy to feel immune using a sandbox. Though I haven't heard of that in a long while.

 

[Tworak]

and in a few months firefox will have multithreading like chrome had since 2008

mozilla - we're building a better internet

 

[Crimson-Death]

Everything that has a beginning has an end...
Everything dies...
Everybody dies...
It only ends once...
This is the end...
The End.
RIP good Firefox.

Welcome Home bizarro, evil-twin, anti-christ Firefox.

Kinda funny.

 

[SolidusDave]

Apart from customization options, I have some extensions that give me functionality that I refuse to give up.
Would greasemonkey-esque scripts like Youtube Center still work (with the same amount of features) in the new FF?
Adblock Plus?
I see instead of a Zotero client there is a connector for the Zotero standalone software... is that competent? I need it for my work and I remember stuff like automatically saving pdfs from gated journals not working etc.

 

[EmiPrime]

It's something that was invented for the Windows 95 dominated era.. When every Windows application assumed it had full unlimited control over the entire system.

They have two decisions: actually update the add ons model for the modern internet and get all the benefits of not using 15 year old technology, or slowly disable functionality that XUL can do that is a potential security problem and will prevent certain add ons from working anyway.

Same reason NPAPI is being deprecated and/or removed from browsers.

Well said.

 

[Maninthemirror]

Can someone tell
Me how addons are more advantageous than extensions ?

My only experience with comparing an add on with extension has been negative towards add one with the example being imgur extension. In Mozilla you have to right click and then use selective selection and then fit the desired area in a box whereas the chrome extension is much better where you right click chose area and then you draw your own area on the screen

 

[Reversed]

I hope rikaichan makes the jump.

With that said, I don't like how Chrome rejected my extension since it's not from the store but elsewhere :/ (it was on github iirc). I wish Firefox doesn't follow suit.

 

[EmiPrime]

I hope rikaichan makes the jump.

With that said, I don't like how Chrome rejected my extension since it's not from the store but elsewhere :/ (it was on github iirc). I wish Firefox doesn't follow suit.

There's Safarikai on Safari and Rikaikun on Chrome.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

*disables automatic updates*

All right then.

Time to switch my settings from auto update so I can keep the existing version.

will use FF 40 forever then.. the last time i updated it fucked my gaf stylish.. never again

At least right now one of your options might be to switch to Firefox Extended Release, which gets security updates but lags behind the normal version. Honestly I love it because major updates are less frequent and by the time they happen you skip early cycle problems.

It looks like ESR will stick with 38 until May 31 2016.

 

[elyetis]

Please don't kill Greasemonkey, I can't go back to gaf without Hide Forum Threads.

 

[injurai]

This is a good thing. But Gaf will act like old curmudgeons anyways.

 

[Shiina]

Thanks Mozilla, now there's no reason to ever go back to Firefox for me again.

 

[Gattsu25]

Please don't kill Greasemonkey, I can't go back to gaf without Hide Forum Threads.

 

[Somnid]

Please don't kill Greasemonkey, I can't go back to gaf without Hide Forum Threads.

Chrome has natively supported user scripts since forever and there's an extension called TamperMonkey that supports loading them.

 

[Condom]

Just switched to FF

Now Edge is my only hope, plz let extension support be good

 

[Angelus Errare]

Just switched to FF

Now Edge is my only hope, plz let extension support be good

Edge extensions will work just like Chrome extensions.

 

[Road]

Firefox died a good four or five years ago, when they decided it was more important to copy whatever Chrome was doing in hopes to avoid losing market share instead of leading the way with innovations. It has just been living on its past glory since then. This move, however, can be considered its funeral.

Unfortunately, smartphones took away the attention from traditional web browsing and, for that, nobody has made any actual strides on web browsers in the last few years. And that probably won't change unless we suddenly revert back to desktop pc as our main form of interaction with the internet.

 

[neoism]

Deliberately using an out of date browser is really bad practice.

im sure its not soo good but i use noscript on 99% of the sites i go to...that with malwarebytes preminum and windows essentials ....no viruses at all...
i just dislike chrome and used ff for the very reason because FF is like it is.... edge isnt all as good as i was hoping .... eiher.

 

[spindashing]

And a lot of us joked that Firefox was turning into Chrome... Now it's happening. RIP.

 

[deltatheta]

So does anyone have any reasons why this is bad or is it just tribalism?

 

[Angelus Errare]

So does anyone have any reasons why this is bad or is it just tribalism?

Tribalism, sprinkled with not understanding the shortcomings Firefox has.

 

[riotous]

When I ran a website and was hosting a lot of content I wrote a ton of my own FIrefox extensions for my own sake; right-click to push images to my server, development extensions, css modifiers for testing, etc.

I tried looking into doing the same in Chrome and it all just seemed impossible.

 

[The Real Abed]

Please don't kill Greasemonkey, I can't go back to gaf without Hide Forum Threads.

Most extensions will be safe. If you don't know what extensions will be possible just look at other browsers. Safari has a Greasemonkey clone and Chrome has its own too. Extensions like that will be easy to keep because they just modify the end product. It's the extensions that need to access the underworkings of the web view engine and modify stuff as it happens that will be in danger.

 

[EmiPrime]

Tribalism, sprinkled with not understanding the shortcomings Firefox has.

Exactly this. It's not that Firefox is "copying" Chrome, it's that there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things regarding computer security and browser design. Right now Firefox is stuck in the 90s and Mozilla are desperately trying to patch these things into their ancient codebase, it doesn't matter how pro you think you are with NoScript.

 

[Shiina]

Tribalism, sprinkled with not understanding the shortcomings Firefox has.

Addons are the only strong point the browser has. That and being low memory until it opens the faucet and starts spraying memory all over the room.

 

[jediyoshi]

Multiprocess just popped up in FF DE

This is a good thing. But Gaf will act like old curmudgeons anyways.

It's not some arbitrary aversion or favoritism, there's a net loss in functionality here.

Tribalism, sprinkled with not understanding the shortcomings Firefox has.

Odd you'd admit to tribalism, not sure how you're confused on the idea of people not being overjoyed in things being less convenient moving forward.

 

[Coreda]

Please don't kill Greasemonkey, I can't go back to gaf without Hide Forum Threads.

It's a pretty safe bet that userscript addons won't be affected.

The new APIs will be based on what Mozilla believes is worth keeping, so a variety of the more popular addons will likely see ports in some capacity but it's not clear how much of the existing functionality and customizability will survive, which is what has continually set Firefox apart.

Many other addons simply won't make the jump due to either API constraints or time. NoScript's author, being part of those Mozilla is consulting with, is quite optimistic though that Mozilla is taking steps to make WebExtensions flexible for new innovation. We'll have to see.

 

[Cipherr]

Switched to chrome about a year ago anyway. Only thing I missed was down them all briefly.

 

[Ran rp]

NoScript and DownThemAll!/DownloadHelper are vital extensions.

This sucks so fucking much.

 

[davepoobond]

will there be an extension that allows for old firefox addons to run?

 

[injurai]

It's not some arbitrary aversion or favoritism, there's a net loss in functionality here.

Only because a lot of third party features have been hard coded against model that is becoming antiquated and holding back other developments in the web industry. Backwards compatibility has be let go at sometime, the software stack has to be rebuilt from time to time as computer science grows.

Its fine to be disappointed that things you rely on go defunct, but to think Mozilla is wrong or misguided for it is nonsensical. They are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of reworking the webstack. Instead of just spending millions of dollars creating work around languages and platforms which is where the industry has been spinning it's wheels for the past 5 years.

 

[Slashlen]

I've been using Firefox for years, mainly because of noscript. It's like a condom for my PC. If it goes away, I'll look around for a new/better browser.

 

[Kreed]

So does anyone have any reasons why this is bad or is it just tribalism?

It's "bad" only in a sense that add-on developers will have to adjust/adapt to extensions and what's possible. Otherwise this is a positive move. For Firefox themselves this makes things easier for them internally since they don't have to maintain "traditional" add-ons anymore and it allows them to be more competitive since now it will be easier for Chrome only extension developers to move their extensions over the Firefox (extensions are only getting better as developers get more comfortable with them and what they can do).

For those that want to hold on to traditional Firefox add-ons, download Water fox (currently using this as I type this post)/Pale moon/etc... Although without support from Firefox, I can't see the add-on developers maintaining these add-ons.

 

[hateradio]

For the people crying about DownThemAll just use JDownloader (It is a standalone software but there are extensions to integrate it with Firefox & Chrome)

I personally just use FlashGot, which allows you to use 3rd party download tools, like FreeDownloadManager, but I wonder if extensions will be able to modify the browser like that to give you an extra option.

Chrome has natively supported user scripts since forever and there's an extension called TamperMonkey that supports loading them.

Chrome removed native user script handling because of security reasons, and then they made sure that every extension installed in Chrome comes from their store. Basically they killed external extensions and user script support.

However, I do see Greasemonkey updating or seeing TamperMonkey on here.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Only because a lot of third party features have been hard coded against model that is becoming antiquated and holding back other developments in the web industry. Backwards compatibility has be let go at sometime, the software stack has to be rebuilt from time to time as computer science grows.

Its fine to be disappointed that things you rely on go defunct, but to think Mozilla is wrong or misguided for it is nonsensical. They are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of reworking the webstack. Instead of just spending millions of dollars creating work around languages and platforms which is where the industry has been spinning it's wheels for the past 5 years.

Pretty much.

 

[aeolist]

I personally just use FlashGot, which allows you to use 3rd party download tools, like FreeDownloadManager, but I wonder if extensions will be able to modify the browser like that to give you an extra option.


Chrome removed native user script handling because of security reasons, and then they made sure that every extension installed in Chrome comes from their store. Basically they killed external extensions and user script support.

However, I do see Greasemonkey updating or seeing TamperMonkey on here.

tampermonkey's there. i use it.

 

[PillarEN]

What does this mean for the average person that had no idea there was difference between extensions and add ons because they thought it was the same thing with a different name?

 

[GJS]

What is the difference between a firefox add-on and an extension?

 

[Pokemaniac]

What does this mean for the average person that had no idea there was difference between extensions and add ons because they thought it was the same thing with a different name?

If you're using Firefox, a bunch of your add-ons will probably break.

 

[Coreda]

If the complete features of keyconfig, Private Tab, Menu Editor, full user editing of the chrome, and others make the transition it would be a miracle, though I'm doubtful. Customization of that kind is the test for any browser I use regularly. Seeing what happened to Opera was bad enough with the promises they made. I'd like to think Mozilla will be smarter about it but it's not hard understand why the news would cause such a reaction.

What is the difference between a firefox add-on and an extension?

They're synonymous as terms, Mozilla just happens to use 'addon'. In this case it's more about their shift to a cross-browser centric addon/extension API and the planned abandonment of the previous one along with its existing addons.

 

[Schrade]

What does this mean for the average person that had no idea there was difference between extensions and add ons because they thought it was the same thing with a different name?

Add-ons is a single/group name for Extensions, Plugins and Themes. Basically things you can add-on to the browser.

Extensions are things like Adblock Plus, NoScript, DownThemAll, Flashgot, etc..
Plugins are things like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, etc
Themes are what change the look of the browser.

 

[Zaventem]

add ons are the only reason to use firefox..