Google looks to be fully shutting down unsupported extensions and ad blockers in Chrome – which might push some folks to switch to Firefox
www.techradar.com
Manifesting a future where Firefox is more successful?

Clearly, Google is serious about trying to oust ad blockers from its browser, or at least those extensions with fuller (V2) levels of functionality. One of the crucial twists with V3 is that it prevents the use of remotely hosted code – as a security measure – but this also means ad blockers can’t update their filter lists without going through Google’s review process. What does that mean? Way slower updates for said filters, which hampers the ability of the ad-blocking extension to keep up with the necessary changes to stay effective.

(This isn’t just about browsers, either, as the war on advert dodgers extends to YouTube, too, as we’ve seen in recent months).

At any rate, Google is playing with fire here somewhat – or Firefox, perhaps we should say – as this may be the shove some folks need to get them considering another of the best web browsers out there aside from Chrome. Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has vowed to maintain support for V2 extensions, while introducing support for V3 alongside to give folks a choice (now there’s a radical idea).

  • DarkCloud@lemmy.worldEnglish
    982·
    2 months ago

    I downloaded Librewolf today - the privacy oriented fork of Firefox!

    Good to see there are browser variants that aren’t just Chrome.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.worldEnglish
      94·
      2 months ago

      Until you actually need a chromium based browser. I get so annoyed when this happens.

      • Supervisor194@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        As if installing and using something else means you can’t have Chrome lying around for that one stupid website.

        • Kbobabob@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          And I do. Sometimes I’ll just fire up Edge if Chrome isn’t installed since it’s chromium based.

      • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        63·
        2 months ago

        In what situation do you need one?

        I’ve been using Firefox for over a decade and have literally never once needed to open a different web browser. For anything, ever. This is a very common complaint that tons of people seem to have that I have never seen happen even once out in the wild.

        • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
          9·
          2 months ago

          Several government websites for the state of Pennsylvania complain and refuse to work if they detect that you aren’t using chrome/edge/safari.

          • bitwolf@lemmy.oneEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            You can spoof your useragent to appear as chrome. And you should as it makes your browser less “unique”

            • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
              24·
              2 months ago

              While you can do this, it’s not clear to me that you should. There are a number of additional laws having to do with perjury and misusing goverment sites and while I would undoubtedly agree with you, were you to assert the application of those laws to the utilization of a user agent switcher is a ridiculous overreach, I am just as certain I have no desire to be in the hot-seat on the day we all find out.

              • bitwolf@lemmy.oneEnglish
                3·
                2 months ago

                Oh wow I didn’t know that. I’ll have to double check for the states that are relevant for me.

                I imagine many people naively install a privacy extension and unknowingly have altered useragents

                • datavoid@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  3·
                  2 months ago

                  Imagine the government coming after someone, demanding they give Google their fair share

                  • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
                    1·
                    2 months ago

                    Yeah, because career-minded prosecutors and judges never fuck over little people for minor, technical, harmless violations of the law. 🙄

          • poke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            Do the sites work if you use an extension that lies to them about what browser you are using?

        • sunbeam60@lemmy.oneEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Firefox is getting so small it’s starting to disappear out of the testing matrix. Confluence has issues with it, you can’t always log into Vanguard on Firefox, many news website layouts have overlapping elements on Firefox, quite a few shopping websites too (H&M in Europe has a long-standing but with putting stuff in the shopping basket until they revamped their website a couple of months ago). Etc etc. I see it ALL the time.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        2 months ago

        There’s still Vivali which is Chromium based and still supporting V2 extension (like uBlock) until June 2025. Its not a full fix, but its a stay of execution. That said, I’m a FF primary user.

    • Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      2 months ago

      I’ve been using librewolf for a several months. Be careful because streaming doesn’t always work on it due to DRM features, and YouTube has been spotty AF. With YouTube it might start the video a couple seconds into it, buffer for no discernable reason, or just skip a few random seconds.

      • Fashim@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        I use firefox but I have to change my useragent string to chrome with an extension to get YouTube working.

        Might be worth having a look to see if it fixes your issues